Genetically determined differences in newborn rat islet sensitivity to interleukin-1 in vitro: no association with the diabetes prone phenotype in the BB-rat

Abstract

Abstract. This study was designed to investigate whether the genetic predisposition to insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) might be caused by an inherited increased sensitivity of the pancreatic B-cells to immune effector molecules e.g. the monokine interleukin 1 (IL-1), which is selectively cytotoxic to B-cells in vitro. Islets of Langerhans isolated from newborn diabetes prone and diabetes resistant Bio-Breeding rats, as well as from the inbred non-diabetic rat strains Wistar Furth, Brown-Norway and Lewis-Scripps were exposed to 0–1000 fg/1 of recombinant human IL-1 β for 7 days. Strain-related differences in the sensitivity to IL-1 were studied by comparing the dose-responses of insulin release at 11 mmol/l glucose and islet light microscopic morphology to varying concentrations of IL-1. Statistical analyses showed a significant impact of strain on B-cell sensitivity to IL-1, Brown-Norway islets being relatively resistant to the action of IL-1. However, the the diabetes prone islets were not more sensitive to the cytotoxic effect of IL-1 than the non-diabetic control strain islets. We conclude that genetic differences in the response to IL-1 exist in vitro, but that this phenomenon is unrelated to the propensity to develop IDDM.