Abstract

Diabetes is a rapidly growing health problem; however, there is currently no effective therapy for diabetes. We know that prolonged diabetes leads to damage of various organs apart from pancreas such as kidney and liver and the role of bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMNCs) is not clearly understood in regeneration of these organs. In this study, we transplanted chloromethylbenzamido-1,1’-dioctadecyl-3,3,3’,3’-tetramethylindocarbocyanine perchlorate (CM-DiI) labeled BMMNCs in streptozotocin (STZ) induced mice and tracked them in various affected organs. We observed, through histological studies that intravenously transplanted CM-DiI labeled BMMNCs were found in acinar regions of the pancreas and not in islet regions, but regenerated islets in diabetic mice. Interestingly, these cells were not found in the kidney and liver of diabetic mice, but these organs regenerated. Also, there was a significant drop in blood glucose levels after the transplantation. We concluded that transplanted BMMNCs incorporated in the acinar region of the pancreas and not in any other organs, but aided in the regeneration of pancreas, liver and kidney. The transplanted BMMNCs also helped in reduction of blood glucose levels.

Key words: Bone marrow mononuclear cells, diabetes, transplantation, organ regeneration.