ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the use of the BB rat as an animal model of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and its use as a system in which various immunotherapeutic procedures can be tested. Immunotherapy for IDDM should be directed only at the components of immune system responsible for pancreatic beta cell destruction. The clinical appearance of disease in the diabetes prone BB rat is similar to that observed in children experiencing the acute onset of IDDM. Diabetes-resistant -BB/Wor rats were derived from diabetes-prone forebears, but have been brd for resistance to the disease. The large number of relevant immunological observations in BB rat suggest a correspondingly large number of potential targets towards which immunotherapeutic interventions can be directed. Available data suggest that the pancreatic beta cell of the BB rat is intrinsically normal. Removal of large amounts of blood from prediabetic diabetes-prone BB rats, originally undertaken for unrelated reasons, was found to decrease substantially the incidence of disease in the animals.
