The 3 out of 12 is not very impressive, but the rest of the results certainly are....
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Jaro
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12th International Congress of Radiation Research, Brisbane, Australia, August 17-22, 2003
Long-Term Low Dose Rate Irradiation Causes Recovery from Type II Diabetes and Suppression of Aging in Type II Diabetes-Prone Mice
Takaharu Nomura, Nao Makino, Takeshi Oda, Ikuno Suzuki and Kazuo Sakai
Low Dose Radiation Research Center, CRIEPI, Japan
The effects of low dose rate gamma irradiation on Model C57BL/KsJ-db/db mice with Type II diabetes mellitus were investigated. These mice develop Type II diabetes by 10 weeks of age, due to obesity, and are characterized by hyperinsulinemia.
A group of 12 female 10-week old mice were irradiated at 0.65 mGy/hr in the low dose rate irradiation facility in the Low Dose Radiation Research Center. The urine glucose levels of all of the mice were strongly positive at the beginning of the irradiation. In the irradiated group, a decrease in the glucose was observed in three mice - one in the 35th week, another in the 52nd week and the third in the 80th week. No recovery from diabetes was observed in the 12 mice of the non-irradiated control group.
There was no systematic change of body weight or consumption of food and drinking water between the irradiated group and the non-irradiated or between the recovered mice and the non-recovered mice.
Survival was better in the irradiated group. The surviving fraction at the age of 90 weeks was 75% in the irradiated group, but only 40% in the non-irradiated group. A marked difference was also observed in the appearance of the coat hair, skin and tail. The irradiated group was in much better condition.
Mortality was delayed and the healthy appearance was prolonged in the irradiated mice by about 20 to 30 weeks compared with the control mice.
These results suggest that the low-dose irradiation modified the condition of the diabetic mice, leading not only to recovery from diabetes, but also to suppression of the aging process.