Long-term retention of non-funcionalized carbon nanotubes in nod mice and its influence on the evolution of autoimmune diabetes

Results Histological data confirmed that the non-functionalized MWCTN had been absorbed and kept retained into the phagocytes of the peri-pancreatic lymph nodes, spleen and liver, causing a granulomatous inflammatory response. Even though no differences were found in the frequency of the development of clinical diabetes or in the morphological characteristics of the pancreatic insulitis, female NOD mice treated with MWCTN presented a significant higher fluctuation of the average glycaemia compared to the control group during the entire study (pu003c0.0001; Wilcoxon), with a tendency to an abbreviation of clinical diabetes onset. Analyses of the pro-inflammatory and the antiinflammatory responses in the peri-pancreatic lymph nodes revealed the induction of a Th1 response in the treated animals, between 8 and 14 after MWCTN exposition, with an increase of the expression of IFNg and a reduced expression of TGFb. This profile remained until the end of the study, 24 weeks after MWCTN injection.