title: Promotion of diabetes onset by stress in the BB rat.
abstract: The purpose of the present study was to address the question of whether environmental stress affects the age of onset and incidence of overt insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in an animal model of human Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes. Thirty-five diabetes prone BB rats of both sexes were divided into two groups: experimental animals were exposed to multiple, concurrent, and unpredictable environmental stressors, while littermate controls were exposed to a standard lab environment. Groups were housed in two separate, sound attenuated, independently ventilated, and restricted rooms. By age 150 days, experimental group animals had developed overt diabetes at a significantly earlier age.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001143:Arousal; D003921:Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / Q000523:psychology*; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011913:Rats, Inbred BB; D012931:Social Environment; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*