Imaging the emergence and natural progression of spontaneous autoimmune diabetes.

ABSTRACT: Type 1 diabetes in the nonobese diabetic mouse stems from an infiltration of the pancreatic islets by a mixed population of immunocytes, which results in the impairment and eventual destruction of insulin-producing β-cells. Little is known about the dynamics of lymphocyte movement in the pancreas during disease progression. Using advanced intravital imaging approaches and newly created reporter mice (Flt3-BFP2, Mertk-GFP-DTR, Cd4-tdTomato, Cd8a-tdTomato), we show that the autoimmune process initiates first with a T cell infiltration into the islets, where they have restricted mobility but reside and are activated in apposition to CX3CR1⁺ macrophages. The main expansion then occurs in the connective tissue outside the islet, which remains more or less

SUBMITTER: Mohan JF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5604023 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature