Vitamin D receptors in intestine, kidney and thymus of streptozotocin diabetic rats.

Our data confirms previous reports of intestinal and kidney compensatory growth, low plasma 1,25(OH)2D3 and up regulation of intestinal VDRs during untreated diabetes. All of these parameters were normalized in diabetic rats treated with exogenous insulin. There were no alterations in VDR numbers in kidneys or thymus of untreated diabetic animals, indicating that up-regulation of VDRs during untreated diabetes did not occur in all vitamin D target tissues. Compensatory growth of the intestine during untreated diabetes was associated with both hypertrophy and hyperplasia, whereas diabetic kidney growth appeared to be associated with hypertrophy without hyperplasia. Diabetes did not affect somatic index of thymus. The data suggests that the up regulation of VDRs during untreated diabetes may be unique to the intestine and further that VDR up regulation may be related to hyperplasia. Calbindin D-9K was significantly lower in diabetic intestine, suggesting that low circulating 1,25(OH)2D3 prevented amplification of 1,25(OH)2D3's action despite up regulation of intestinal VDRs.