Expression of interferon inducible protein-10 in pancreas of mice.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the expression of interferon inducible protein-10 (IP-10) in pancreas of mice and to discuss its possible role in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes.


METHODS
Non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice were used as experiment group and BALB/c mice as non-diabetic prone model. Immunohistochemistry method was used to evaluate the expression of IP-10 in the pancreas of NOD mice and BALB/c mice. Immunoelectron microscope was used to show the location of IP-10 in pancreatic islet beta cells.


RESULTS
Pancreatic islets were positively stained in all the NOD mice. Insulitis could be found in mice at the age of 4 wk. The weakly positive results were found in control group with no insulitis. Immunoelectron microscopy further demonstrated that IP-10 was produced by pancreatic beta cells and stored in cytoplasm of the cells.


CONCLUSIONS
IP-10 can be largely produced in pancreatic islets of NOD mice at the age of 2 wk when there is no significant insulitis, and may play an important part in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes by attracting immune cells to infiltrate the pancreatic islets.
Li
Dong
D
Department of Infectious Disease, the First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China. ldcmu@yahoo.com.cn
Zhu
Su-Wen
SW
Liu
Dong-Juan
DJ
Liu
Guo-Liang
GL
D000818:Animals; D054357:Chemokine CXCL10; D019743:Chemokines, CXC / Q000378:metabolism*; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D016688:Mice, Inbred NOD; D016253:Microscopy, Immunoelectron; D010179:Pancreas / Q000276:immunology* / Q000648:ultrastructure
D054357:Chemokine CXCL10; D019743:Chemokines, CXC; D007371:Interferon-gamma