Spontaneous recovery from streptozotocin-induced diabetes in rats pretreated with pertussis vaccine or hydrocortisone.

Following the intravenous injection of streptozotocin into rats, postprandial hyperglycaemia was sustained from 24 hours over a subsequent period of some weeks and the rats were glucose intolerant. When streptozotocin was similarly injected into pertussis-sensitized or hydrocortisone treated rats, the postprandial hyperglycaemia observed at 24 hours did not persist, but showed a progressive decline until near normoglycaemia was obtained a week later. These animals manifested normal glucose tolerance one week after streptozotocin. Thus, a spontaneous recovery from streptozotocin-induced diabetes occurred under these conditions. This spontaneous recovery from diabetes was associated with hyperinsulinaemia in the fed state.