Hyperglycaemia is one of the main causes for the endothelial cell (EC) damage in diabetic patients. Even though circulating endothelial progenitor cells (CEPC) could be used as a prognosis for microvascular complications, there is very little information on the islet microvasculature. We analysed by immunohistochemistry and by flow cytometric immunophenotyping, the expression of CD34 on EC and the expressions of CD31, CD34, CD45 and CD133 on CEPC in Streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Peripheral blood and tissue specimens were obtained from rats of different treatment regimens: STZ treatment, control saline (NS) and sodium citrate (CB) treatments. Blood cells were exposed to flow cytometric immunophenotyping for CD133, CD31, CD34, CD45 and CD133. While tissues from the pancreas, liver and kidney were routinely processed and stained immunohistochemically for CD34. There was a tendency of an increased in CD45-/CD133+/CD31+/CD34+ cells (0.04 ± 0.11 %) in diabetic rats compared to the controls (CB: 0.03 ± 0.04 %; Saline: 0.01 ± 0.03 %). But there was no significant statistical difference between them. The expression pattern of CD34 on the EC in the organs’ vascular beds including arterioles, venules, capillaries and sinusoids was extremely heterogeneous across and within treatment regimens. The ECs in the sinusoids of the liver presented similar CD34 expression patterns across different treatment regimens, while the expression of CD34 on the ECs of sinusoidal capillaries in the pancreas vary with the treatment regimen. We conclude that the degree of endothelial cell damage is not uniform across organs’ vascular beds in the rat, contrary to mice and humans. Furthermore, the sinusoids in the pancreas and the kidney may have the same degree of endothelial damage when exposed to the same deleterious causes.
