Promotion of diabetes onset by stress in the BB rat.

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.