The inhibitory effect of neonatal thymectomy on the incidence of insulitis in non-obese diabetes (NOD) mice

Abstract

The effects of neonatal thymectomy on insulitis in non-obese diabetics (NOD) mice, which suffer from destruction of B cells in the pancreas, were studied histopathologically. Complete neonatal thymectomy reduced the incidence of insulitis in NOD mice, from 100% to 53% in males and from 100% to 69% in females at day 60; and from 100% to 44% in males and from 100% to 54% in females at day 100. The results suggest that the pathogenesis of insulitis in NOD mice may depend on an autoimmune mechanism related to the thymus, through which destruction of B cells in the pancreatic islets is mediated. NOD mice can therefore be useful as an animal model for studying the autoimmune etiology of type I diabetes in humans.