NOD/ShiLtJ Sirarat Sarntivijai Non-obese Diabetic https://www.jax.org/strain/001976 NOD Diabetes in NOD/ShiLtJ mice is characterized by insulitis, a leukocytic infiltrate of the pancreatic islets. Marked decreases in pancreatic insulin content occur in females at about 12 weeks of age and several weeks later in males. Onset of diabetes is marked by moderate glycosuria and by a non-fasting plasma glucose higher than 250 mg/dl. Diabetic mice are hypoinsulinemic and hyperglucagonemic, indicating a selective destruction of pancreatic islet beta cells. Susceptibility to IDDM in NOD/ShiLtJ mice is polygenic, and environment, including housing conditions, health status, and diet, exerts a strong effect on penetrance. NOD/ShiLtJ females are more widely used than males because the onset of IDDM symptoms occurs earlier and with a higher incidence (90-100% by 30 weeks of age). NOD/ShiLtJ males develop IDDM at a frequency of between 40-60% by 30-40 weeks of age. Male mice are useful for certain applications, including pharmaceutical studies, "accelerated transfer" of IDDM, and some in vitro studies. The major component of diabetes susceptibility in NOD mice is the unique MHC haplotype (H2g7 = Kd, Aad, Abg7, Enull, Db). NOD mice also exhibit multiple aberrant immunophenotypes including defective antigen presenting cell immunoregulatory functions, defects in the regulation of theT lymphocyte repertoire, defective NK cell function, defective cytokine production from macrophages (Fan et al., 2004) and impaired wound healing. They also lack hemolytic complement, C5. NOD/ShiLtJ mice also are severely hearing-impaired. A variety of mutations causing immunodeficiencies, targeted mutations in cytokine genes, as well as transgenes affecting immune functions, have been backcrossed into the NOD/ShiLt inbred strain background. Diabetes onset was monitored weekly between the ages of 3 and 30 weeks in 120 male and 120 female NOD/ShiLtJ bred in the Bar Harbor and Sacramento facilities. Mice were fed a 6% fat diet (LabDiet 5K0Q, St. Louis MO), ad libitum. Diabetes was defined by a non-fasting blood glucose level exceeding 250 mg/dL. Blood was sampled from the submandibular route and analyzed using a OneTouch Ultra 2 handheld glucometer that was validated using a control solution on each measurement day. Data were combined from three independent studies, each involving 40 males and 40 females. The median female onset was 17 weeks in each study, and the Kaplan-Meier curves from the individual studies did not differ significantly. NOD/ShiLt