Failure to transfer insulitis to athymic recipients using BB/W rat lymphoid tissue transplants

Lymphocytes from acutely diabetic BB/W rats were transplanted into SWR/JM nu/nu athymic mice and nu/nu athymic rats. Despite the use of a wide variety of dose regimens and pretreatments, no recipient developed either insulitis, hyperglycemia, or glucose intolerance. These data contradict earlier reports of successful transfer of insulitis using similar methodology.