Virus induced diabetes and the immune system. II -- Evidence for an immune pathogenesis of the acute phase of diabetes.

The infection of normal DBA2 and BALB/C nu/ + mice with 2 X 10(2,6) TCID50 of the M variant of the EMC virus induced pathological mean glucose values of 426 +/- 99 mg/100 ml in DBA2 mice and 292 +/- 130 mg/100 ml in BALB/C nu/ + mice on day five following infection. As diabetic animals died afterwards, mean glucose values decreased in the surviving animals on day seven and fourteen. The infected immunodeficient BALB/C nu/nu mice with thymus aplasia did not show abnormal mean glucose values or higher standard deviation of the means (114 +/- 37 mg/100 ml) when compared to uninfected controls (117 +/- 23 mg/100 ml). This demonstrates that a complete thymus-dependent immune system seems to be necessary for the development of the acute stage of virus-induced diabetes in the mouse.