We tried to avoid this phenomenon with the use of whole blood. “
“The non-obese diabetic (NOD) mouse is a widely used animal model for the study of human diabetes. Before the start of lymphocytic insulitis, DC accumulation around islets of Langerhans is a hallmark for autoimmune diabetes development in this model. Previous experiments indicated that an inflammatory influx of these DCs in the pancreas is less plausible. Here, we investigated whether the pancreas contains DC precursors and whether these precursors contribute to DC accumulation in the NOD pancreas. Fetal pancreases of NOD and control mice were isolated followed by FACS using ER-MP58, Ly6G, CD11b CH5424802 purchase and Ly6C. Sorted fetal pancreatic ER-MP58+ cells were cultured

with GM-CSF and tested for DC markers and antigen processing.

CFSE labeling and Ki-67 staining were used to determine cell proliferation in cultures and tissues. Ly6Chi and Ly6Clow precursors were present in fetal pancreases of NOD and control mice. These precursors developed into CD11c+MHCII+CD86+ DCs capable of processing DQ-OVA. ER-MP58+ cells in the embryonic and pre-diabetic NOD pancreas had a higher proliferation capacity. Our observations selleck inhibitor support a novel concept that pre-diabetic DC accumulation in the NOD pancreas is due to aberrant enhanced proliferation of local precursors, rather than to aberrant “inflammatory infiltration” from the circulation. The non-obese diabetic (NOD) mouse is used as a spontaneous model to study the development of type 1 diabetes 1. Lymphocytes accumulate around and in the islets of Langerhans in NOD mice from around 6 weeks of age onwards, which results in the destruction of β-cells followed by a decrease in insulin production leading to diabetes. Prior to T- and B-cell accumulation the number of DCs increases in the pancreas and concentrates

around the islets (from the age of 5 weeks onwards) 2, 3. DCs are potent APCs capable of stimulating both naïve and memory T cells 4. The observation that DCs are the first immune cells to increase in number in the NOD pancreas points to a crucial role for DCs in the initiation of the islet autoimmune reaction. Such a role was recently proven by the demonstration that a temporal depletion of DCs totally abrogated the development of much insulitis and diabetes in the NOD mouse model 5. Early studies have shown that BM precursors give rise to monocytes in blood, which circulate for a few days before they migrate into tissue where they develop into different types of DCs and macrophages. Blood monocytes can be subdivided into at least two subsets based on their Ly6C expression: classical and nonclassical monocytes. The classical monocytes, which are Ly6Chi, are selectively recruited to inflamed tissues and lymph nodes and differentiate into inflammatory DCs 6. The nonclassical monocytes, which are Ly6Clow, patrol the endothelium of the blood vessels and are required for rapid tissue invasion at the site of an infection 7.