ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the many homologies with the human disease and some of the unique features of the BioBreeding (BB) rat. The BB rat is one of two unique rodent models that spontaneously develops insulin-dependent diabetes similar to humans. BB rats have been used extensively as a metabolic model of diabetes for clinical study, basic research, and by those interested in the multifactorial etiology and treatment of Type I diabetes. Parallels are often drawn between many facets of the etiology of human Type I diabetes and the BB rat model. Understanding of the autoimmune process involved in the pathogenesis of Type I diabetes has considerably improved through studies of this unique animal model, which spontaneously develops autoimmune diabetes. In the BB rat, macrophages and T cells appear to be present in the initial pancreatic infiltrate, which is then followed by a more-generalized multicellular insulitis.
