INFLUENCE OF GONADECTOMY IN ESS DIABETIC RATS

The influence of gonadectomy on some variables related to the diabetic syndrome was studied in the eSS line of rats, a nonobese model of spo ntaneous non-insulin-dependent diabetes, whose biochemical and histopa thological manifestations are more severe in males than in females. Ra ts were gonadectomized at 90 days of age. Spayed animals showed higher body weight, impaired intolerance to glucose at 9 and 12 months of ag e, lower insulinemia and a decreased number of large pancreatic islets . Castrated rats revealed lower body weight when compared with control s. However, those males did not evidence impairment in the intolerance to glucose, changes in insulinemia or remarkable modifications in end ocrine pancreas histology. In kidneys, a lower cellular area in superf icial proximal convoluted tubules was noticed. Despite the lower bioma ss registered in orchidectomized animals, their diabetic evolution was not modified. Conversely, ovariectomy appeared to be a worsening fact or.