Experimental diabetes and the inner ear. A proposed biologic model.

Experimental diabetes was induced in 28 healthy chinchillas by the intravenous injection of Streptozotocin. Five chinchillas were used as controls. It was noted that a dose of 60 mg/kg body weight produced a noninsulin-dependent diabetes in adult chinchillas of mean weights of 393 gm. The chinchilla is proposed as a suitable animal model for the study of experimental diabetes because of the many attributes it possesses. A method of producing experimental diabetes is described. A method of anatomical display was utilized that allowed a detailed longitudinal study of the entire cochlear partition without sacrificing the stria vascularis and Reissner's membrane. The study did not yield any new histopathologic data concerning the nature of diabetes in the inner ear. In all likelihood this is, among other things, a factor of the mild severity of diabetes induced and the short duration of this study.