Immunological transmission of glomerulosclerotic changes in KK-mice with spontaneous diabetes. 1. Transplantation of spleen cells.

To investigate whether glomerulosclerotic changes can be transmitted by spleen cells, two-month-old diabetic KK-mice received a spleen homogenate transplanted subcutaneously. the donors were two-year-old diabetic KK-mice. Control animals received physiological saline. Kidneys and pancreas were removed four or ten months after the transplantation. Apart from histological and partly immunohistological studies the kidneys (glomeruli) were also evaluated morphometrically on a blind basis. Blood sugar levels were determined together with serum insulin concentrations in some animals. Marked widening of the mesangium and an increase in mesangial cells was found in the transplanted animals four months after the transplantation when compared with the control animals, a finding that was confirmed by morphometric studies. All transplanted animals exhibited a lymphoplasmocytic periductulitis and some showed insulitis in the pancreas. Degranulation of beta-cells was observed in some animals. Serum insulin was significantly reduced one month after the transplantation and blood sugar levels in the transplanted animals were continuously higher after three month than the values in the control animals. The investigations show that transplantation of spleen cells induces progression of diabetic glomerulosclerotic renal alterations and also causes periductulitis and in isolated cases insulitis.