Combined treatment with nicotinamide and desferrioxamine prevents islet allograft destruction in NOD mice.

Nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice get spontaneous diabetes with clinical and pathological manifestations similar to those seen in human type I diabetes. NOD mice will destroy transplants of treated allogeneic islet tissue by a recurrence of the disease process that destroyed the original islet tissue. This may be prevented by treatment of the animals with combined desferrioxamine and nicotinamide. Transplanted animals become normoglycemic and remain so for the duration of the treatment. This suggests that oxygen-derived free radicals may be involved in islet damage in spontaneous diabetes.