Establishment of blood glucose control model in diabetic mice

Abstract

Aim: To explore the established method of the diabetic mouse blood glucose control model and preliminary observation of its influence on the retinas of diabetic mice.

Methods: The db/db BKS-DB (Lepr^ko/ko) mice were randomly divided into two groups: the poor blood glucose control group (PG group, n=18) and the stable blood glucose control group (SG group, n=12), with BKS-DB (Lepr^wt/wt) as the normal blood glucose control group (NG group, n=18). According to the blood glucose values for 5 intervals which were monitored during the period of adaption, the PG group was injected with insulin aspart twice daily, fasted for 2h and then returned to normal. The SG group was injected with insulin aspart twice and insulin glargine once daily and fed with a quantitative ration. Fundus images were collected after eight weeks. The glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), mean blood glucose level (MBG), standard deviation of blood glucose (SDBG), coefficient of variation of blood glucose (CVBG), and mean amplitude of glycemic excursion (MAGE) in each group were examined and calculated.

Results: The HbA1c, MBG, SDBG, CVBG, and MAGE levels in the PG group were significantly higher than those in the NG and SG groups (all P<0.05). MBG, SDBG, CVBG, and MAGE levels in the SG group were higher than those in the NG group (all P<0.05). There was no significant difference in HbA1c levels between the NG and SG groups (P>0.05). Preliminary observation of fundus images in the PG group and SG groups showed scattered retinal bleeding spots, while bleeding was more obvious in the PG group.

Conclusion: The blood glucose control model of type 2 diabetes mellitus mice can be successfully established by subcutaneous injection of insulin aspart insulin glargine and rationed food, which is valuable for studying the mechanism of blood glucose fluctuations in diabetic complications in vivo.

Keywords: animal models; blood glucose control; type 2 diabetes.