Major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-independent differences between diabetes-prone BB rats and their parental Wistar rat strain in some hematologic and metabolic traits.

In connection with the fact that BB rats are homogeneous for haplotype RT1u and their parental Wistar rat stock is heterogenous for haplotypes RT1u and RT1a the influence of the RT1 haplotypes on some hematologic and metabolic traits was studied. The findings indicate marked differences between BB rats and their parental strain independent of haplotype RT1 so that the changed genetic background of the BB rat rather than the haplotype per se seems to be the reason for the differences observed.