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Inducible nitric oxide synthase in pancreatic islets of the non-obese diabetic mouse: a light and confocal microscopical study of its ontogeny, co-localization and up-regulation following cytokine administration

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Abstract

Nitric oxide has been shown to mediate beta-cell destruction in rodent islets exposed to interleukin 1β in culture. The inhibitory effect is potentiated by tumour necrosis factor-α and interferon- γ. Cytokine stimulation leads to gene transcription and translation of inducible nitric oxide synthase, the biosynthetic enzyme of nitric oxide. In the non-obese diabetic mouse, progressive invasion of pancreatic islets by immune cells may lead to local production of inflammatory cytokines, resulting in inducible nitric oxide synthase expression within the islets. In this study, the ontogeny of this enzyme and its cellular expression were examined in pancreatic sections of female non- obese diabetic mice by double-label immunofluorescence. Light and confocal microscopy were employed to study the up-regulation, co- localization and immunocytoplasmic distribution of the enzyme in female non-obese diabetic and Swiss mice following cytokine treatment. From day 40 to day 220 a small number of beta-cells and a proportion of macrophages, usually in peri-islet and exocrine areas, expressed the enzyme. At onset of diabetes, an increasing number of macrophages within and surrounding the islets were positive for the enzyme. Treatment of day 60 female non-obese diabetic mice with interleukin 1β alone and in combination with tumour necrosis factor-α and/or interferon- γ resulted in a significant influx of macrophages into the pancreas, while this was lower in female Swiss mice treated similarly. Cytokine administration led to intense but sometimes eccentric immunocytoplasmic labelling for the enzyme in a considerable proportion of macrophages and beta-cells. Macrophages positive for inducible nitric oxide synthase were located in peri- and intra-islet areas, being distal and adjacent to enzyme-positive and negative beta-cells. Treatment with tumour necrosis factor-α and/or interferon-γ did not lead to enzyme up-regulation. These results show that in the non-obese diabetic mouse there is low and sustained expression of islet inducible nitric oxide synthase in the prediabetic period, which is followed by an increase around onset. However, treatment of female non-obese diabetic and Swiss mice with interleukin- 1β, alone or together with tumour necrosis factor-α and/or interferon-γ leads to a marked expression of this enzyme within macrophages and beta-cells

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Paediatrics, University of Auckland School of Medicine, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand

    S. Reddy & S. Kaill

  2. Department of Anatomy, University of Auckland School of Medicine, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand

    C. A. Poole & J. Ross

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  1. S. Reddy
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  2. S. Kaill
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Reddy, S., Kaill, S., Poole, C.A. et al. Inducible nitric oxide synthase in pancreatic islets of the non-obese diabetic mouse: a light and confocal microscopical study of its ontogeny, co-localization and up-regulation following cytokine administration. J Mol Hist 29, 53–64 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026416918339

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