Acceleration of diabetes in young NOD mice with peritoneal macrophages.

To elucidate the roles of macrophages in the pathogenesis of NOD murine diabetes, peritoneal macrophages from NOD mice were injected into young NOD mice. We used 12 to 20 week-old NOD mice of both sexes as donors, and sex-matched 2-week-old NOD mice as recipients. Cyclophosphamide (CY), 200 mg/kg, was intraperitoneally injected into the donors. Two weeks later, peritoneal exudate cells (PEC) were collected from the diabetic donors. Macrophage-rich fractions (MRF) were collected by adherence. Then PEC(5-8 x 10(6)) or MRF(3-7 x 10(6)) were transferred, intraperitoneally, to the recipients. Two weeks later, some of the recipients were killed in order to perform immunofluorescent analysis of splenocytes and to assess pancreatic histology. Mac 1 positive splenocytes were increased in PEC- and in MRF-injected recipient mice. Insulitis was seen in PEC- and MRF-injected mice, but not in controls. Some of the recipients were injected with CY, 200 mg/kg, intraperitoneally, at two weeks post cell transfer. Two weeks after CY injection, the animals were examined for the presence of diabetes. The incidences of diabetes were 67% in PEC-injected mice, 40% in the MRF-injected group, and 3% in the controls. These results suggest that peritoneal macrophages accelerate the disease process in NOD mice.