NOD mice were treated with pentoxifylline (FTX) to investigate the incidence of cyclophosphamide-accelerated diabetes, the apoptosis and the insulin expression of β-cells and expressions of Fas or FasL mRNA in both pancreas and spleen. The results showed that incidence of diabetes in PTX group was significantly lower compared with control group (P<0.05). The apoptosis of β-cells was decreased in PTX group with higher insulin expression level in islet cells. The expression of FasL mRNA in pancreas of PTX group was lower than that of control group (P<0.05), and there was no significant difference in Fas mRNA expression between two groups. Both Fas and FasL mRNA levels in spleen of PTX group were much higher than those of control group (P<0.05 or P<0.01).

AIM: To investigate the intervention effect of pentoxifylline(PTX) on type 1 diabetes mellitus in non-obese diabetic(NOD)mice and explore its possible mechanism.METHODS: Eight-week-old NOD mice were treated with PTX to investigate the incidence of cyclophosphamide accelerating diabetes.The apoptosis of beta-cells was detected by TUNEL,the expressions of caspase-3 in islet of the NOD mice was checked by immunohistochemistry and the expressions of caspase-8 was determined by RT-PCR.RESULTS: The incidence of diabetes in PTX group was 40.63%,which was obviously lower than 69.70% in the control group(P