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DOI: 10.1055/s-0029-1210930
© J. A. Barth Verlag in Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York
Humoral-Mediated Anti-Islet Cytotoxicity in Diabetes-Prone BB/OK Rats-Effect on β-Cell Function and Autologous Islets1, 2)
1) Part of this work was presented at the 22nd Meeting of the European Society for Clinical Investigation (ESCI) held in Graz (Austria), April 20th—23rd 1988 2) Dedicated to Professor H. Bibergeil on the occasion of his 65th birthdayPublication History
1989
Publication Date:
16 July 2009 (online)
Summary
The present study investigates whether sera from diabetic BB/OK rats impair -cell-specific functions of rat pancreatic islets and whether humoral-mediated cytotoxicity in BB rat sera also affects the autologous islets of normoglycaemic serum donors. Exposure of neonatal rat islets of Langerhans for 20 h to sera from diabetic BB rats and rabbit complement resulted in a decrease in insulin content and in insulin release upon glucose stimulation. However, the extent of islet alterations caused by sera from various BB rats was different as revealed by comparison of the ability of β-cells to restore their functions during a 48 h recovery period. While the effect of some of the sera was completely reversible, in other cases the insulin content and/or the secretory capacity of the islets could not be fully restored indicating partially irreversible islet alterations due to pretreatment with cytotoxic BB rat serum. The potential effect of anti-islet cytotoxicity in BB rat sera against autologous islets of the serum donor indicated by enhanced 51Cr-release in the presence of rabbit complement was proven in 50% (6/12) of the investigated normoglycaemic BB/OK rats.
These results suggest that humoral-mediated cytotoxicity may contribute to β-cell alteration in this model of diabetes.
Key words
BB rat serum - Islet cell cytotoxicity - Islets of Langerhans - Insulin content - Insulin secretion - Cytotoxicity to autologous islets