Sweta Arora, Chandana Haldar, Sameer Gupta
Vol. 6, Jul-Dec 2018
Abstract:
Diabetes is a non communicable, life style disorder and is one of the most significant global health issues. Theoretically, high metabolism (weight reduction and exercise) could improve Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2D), but in reality human life style does not permit the above remedy to succeed. Hence, the search for new therapies for diabetes is always in demand. Symptoms of diabetes in the hamsters are very similar to those in humans; therefore, hamsters were used in the present study instead of earlier models like rat and mice. Hamsters having high fat diet (HFD) and were given a single dose of streptozotocin (STZ) (60mg/kg) to induce T2D. After confirming diabetes in the hamsters after 72 hrs, the damages caused by HFD+STZ induced diabetes were observed. The diabetic animals exhibited significant increase in serum glucose level and reduction in serum insulin level. HFD+STZ induced diabetes also led to disruption in the pancreatic histoarchitecture as noted in our animal model golden hamsters. The induction of T2D in the hamsters significantly reduced the glycogen content of both liver and muscle tissues. The impaired glucose homeostasis caused derangements in the lipid profile as evidenced by increased total cholesterol (TC), LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) and decreased HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) in the hamsters. Our data clearly suggest that hamsters, a long photoperiodic rodent, having close similarity with humans may prove to be an excellent model for diabetology.