[Simulation of diabetes mellitus in rats: Latent and manifest forms]

The paper is concerned with the investigation of problems of the etiology and pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus and simulation of this disease in animals in order to study its preclinical stages. Experiments were performed on adult male rats using i.v. GTT, a radioimmunoassay for determination of blood insulin, immunoenzymatic detection of autoantibodies to pancreatic islet cell surface, and determination of complement dependent cytotoxicity. Fractionated intraperitoneal administration of subdiabetic doses of streptozocin was shown to cause the destruction of the insular apparatus in rats with the involvement of the immune system. Five injections of B-cytotoxin (40 mg/kg) caused the development of manifest diabetes mellitus, two injections led to a decrease in function of the insular apparatus and the appearance of autoantibodies to the surface of islet cells with cytotoxic features. Problems of the pathogenetic role of factors of humoral immunity in the development of type I diabetes mellitus are under discussion.