Early insulitis and the islet vascular system

Vascular addressins are induced on islet vessels during insulitis in nonobese diabetic mice and are involved in lymphoid cell binding to islet endothelium.

In the nonobese diabetic (NOD) mouse, lymphocytic and monocytic infiltration of the pancreatic islets leads to beta cell destruction. To investigate the mechanisms by which lymphocytes enter the NOD pancreas, pancreata were immunostained using monoclonal antibodies to a variety of adhesion molecules known to be involved in lymphocyte binding to vascular endothelium, an initial step in the migra...

Protection of nonobese diabetic mice from autoimmune diabetes by reduction of islet mass before insulitis.

Nonobese diabetic mice spontaneously develop diabetes that is caused by autoimmune cell-mediated destruction of pancreatic beta cells. Here we report that surgical removal of 90% of pancreatic tissue before onset of insulitis induced a long-term diabetes-free condition in nonobese diabetic mice. Pancreatectomy after development of moderate insulitis had no effect on the course of diabetes. The ...

Vascular endothelial growth factor coordinates islet innervation via vascular scaffolding.

Neurovascular alignment is a common anatomical feature of organs, but the mechanisms leading to this arrangement are incompletely understood. Here, we show that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling profoundly affects both vascularization and innervation of the pancreatic islet. In mature islets, nerves are closely associated with capillaries, but the islet vascularization process...

Insulitis Revisited.

Restricted access to the inflammatory lesions in patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D) has slowed insight into human insulitis. The conception of a network collecting pancreases of donors with diabetes (Network for Pancreatic Organ Donors with Diabetes [nPOD]; www.jdrfnpod.org) has focused the international diabetes research community on islet inflammation in new tissue for the first time in deca...

Factors Influencing the Early Results of Pancreatic Islet Transplantation: Studies on Isolation Enzymes and Islet Revascularisation