Summary
The off-spring in a barrier maintained colony of spontaneously type 1 diabetic BB/Wor/Mol-BB rats was treated with a daily injection of either saline, forskolin, arginine, glucose or both glucose and arginine for the first six days after birth. The incidence was reduced from 88% to 72% by the neonatal stimulation with arginine and glucose in combination, which also delayed the onset time from 76.0 ± 2.2 days to 88.1 ± 2.3 days. No such effect was observed after stimulation with either one of the compunds. Neonatal stimulation with forskolin also delayed the onset to 87.9 ± 3.8 days, however without reducing the incidence. A higher incidence of diabetes was observed in the barrier-protected rats taking part in this study than in an earlier study using BB rats of the same origin, but kept under conventional conditions.
Key words
BB rat - Rattus norwegicus - Diabetes mellitus - Neonatal stimulation - β-cells
