Decreased collateral vessel formation in diabetic peripheral limbs is characterized by abnormalities of the angiogenic response to ischemia. Hyperglycemia is known to activate protein kinase C (PKC), affecting the expression and activity of growth factors such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF). The current study investigates the role of PKCδ ...

BACKGROUND Both C-peptide and nicotinamide are known to reduce blood glucose in type 1 diabetes. In the present study, the effects of C-peptide alone or in combination with nicotinamide on glucose and insulin levels in streptozotocin-nicotinamide-induced type 2 diabetic mice. METHODS The study used 70 adult male NMARI mice, weighing 25-35 g, divided into seven groups: control; type 1 diabetic...

Background: Type-1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease in which T lymphocytes destroy insulin-producing β-cells. Control of self-reactive T lymphocytes and recovery of diabetic injury is the end point of T1D. Objective: To investigate generation of tolerogenic dendritic cells (tolDCs) as an innovative method of diabetes therapy. Methods: Lentivirus vector production was achieved by GIPZ mou...

Diabetes can lead to many end-organ complications. However, the association between diabetes and hearing loss is not well understood. Here, we investigated the effect of noise exposure on diabetic mice compared with wild-type mice. Hearing threshold shifts, histopathologic changes in the cochlea, and inflammatory responses were evaluated over time. After noise exposure, more severe hearing thre...

BACKGROUND Increased levels of estrogen and diabetes mellitus separately predispose to vaginal candidiasis (VC). However, the compounding effect of estrogen on the severity and persistence of VC in diabetic females is not clear. METHODS To address this issue, a diabetic mouse model with estrogen-maintained VC was developed and evaluated for vaginal fungal burden (VFB) and immune competence at...

Gastrointestinal dysfunction is common in diabetic patients. In genetic (nonobese diabetic) and toxin-elicited (streptozotocin) models of diabetes in mice, we demonstrate defects in gastric emptying and nonadrenergic, noncholinergic relaxation of pyloric muscle, which resemble defects in mice harboring a deletion of the neuronal nitric oxide synthase gene (nNOS). The diabetic mice manifest pron...

The protein kinase C (PKC)-beta isoform has been implicated to play a pivotal role in the development of diabetic kidney disease. We tested this hypothesis by inducing diabetic nephropathy in PKC-beta-deficient (PKC-beta(-/-)) mice. We studied nondiabetic and streptozotocin-induced diabetic PKC-beta(-/-) mice compared with appropriate 129/SV wild-type mice. After 8 weeks of diabetes, the high-g...

We previously showed that the transcription factor Mafb is essential for podocyte differentiation and foot process formation. Podocytes are susceptible to injury in diabetes, and this injury leads to progression of diabetic nephropathy. In this study, we generated transgenic mice that overexpress Mafb in podocytes using the nephrin promoter/enhancer. To examine a potential pathogenetic role for...