Abstract: Objective : To study the influence of apoptotic cells on the cytokines of different subsets of T cell in the peripheral blood from the recipient rats after islet transplantation in order to explore the possible way of apoptotic cells involved in the reducing of immune tolerance. Methods: apoptotic cells from the donor rats were obtained by irradiation of X-irradiation from electron linear accelerator. the diabetic rats for islet transplantation were randomly divided into four groups：each group were respectively injected by Physiological saline (A group), normal cells(B group), apoptotic donor cells(C group), and necrotic donor cells(D group). then, each group rats received islet transplantation on the seventh day after the pre-injection. The level of cytokines IFN-γ、IL-10 in peripheral blood were determined by Luminex 100 Integrated System and TGF-β1 measured by ELISA respectively at 0d, 1week, 2week after islet transplantation. Results:: The level of IFN-γ of C group has no difference before transplantation, but at 7d, 14d after transplantation it is significantly lower than other groups（P<0.050）. The content of IL-10 and TGF-β1 in C group has a significant increase compared with other three groups（P<0.050）before transplantation and at 7d , 14d after transplantation, the difference disappeared after rejection. Conclusions: We have demonstrated that the pre-treatment of donor apoptotic cells can decrease the level of IFN-γ and increase the level of IL-10 and TGF-β1. All these would indicate that the transfusion of apoptotic cells might induce the immune tolerance by accommodating the balance of Th1/Th2、Th3.

Key words: Apoptosis, islet transplantation, T lymphocytes, immune regulation