Comments on: Mouse Metabolism and Diabetes Research http://www.solvingdiabetes.org/2009/06/03/mouse-metabolism-and-diabetes-research/ A site dedicated to solving diabetes. Sat, 14 Aug 2010 23:12:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Scott King http://www.solvingdiabetes.org/2009/06/03/mouse-metabolism-and-diabetes-research/comment-page-1/#comment-3052 Scott King Sat, 31 Jul 2010 11:41:55 +0000 http://www.hanumanmedicalfoundation.org/solvingdiabetes/?p=64#comment-3052 Malcolm, the high fat diet is considered to be a model for type 2 diabetes. The high fat diet makes animals glucose intolerant, and it reduces both insulin-mediated glucose uptake and glucose-mediated glucose uptake. The reason is that the simplest fat, free fatty acids (the fat equivalent of glucose) is a metabolic hormone with profound effects on the liver. FFA's have a major role in the overall control of metabolism including fat and glucose metabolism. This discovery of the important of FFAs is relatively recent, and work is accelerating. It will probably need to improvements in therapy for type 2 diabetes. Malcolm, the high fat diet is considered to be a model for type 2 diabetes.

The high fat diet makes animals glucose intolerant, and it reduces both insulin-mediated glucose uptake and glucose-mediated glucose uptake. The reason is that the simplest fat, free fatty acids (the fat equivalent of glucose) is a metabolic hormone with profound effects on the liver. FFA’s have a major role in the overall control of metabolism including fat and glucose metabolism. This discovery of the important of FFAs is relatively recent, and work is accelerating. It will probably need to improvements in therapy for type 2 diabetes.

]]> By: Malcom Abdel http://www.solvingdiabetes.org/2009/06/03/mouse-metabolism-and-diabetes-research/comment-page-1/#comment-2992 Malcom Abdel Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:42:40 +0000 http://www.hanumanmedicalfoundation.org/solvingdiabetes/?p=64#comment-2992 Hello Scott, Would you happen to know exactly why animals (mice) given a high-fat, low-carb diet do not experience a reduction of blood glucose? Do you think glucose mediated glucose uptake and or insulin differences accounts for this. much appreciated, Hello Scott,

Would you happen to know exactly why animals (mice) given a high-fat, low-carb diet do not experience a reduction of blood glucose?
Do you think glucose mediated glucose uptake and or insulin differences accounts for this.

much appreciated,

]]> By: Jay http://www.solvingdiabetes.org/2009/06/03/mouse-metabolism-and-diabetes-research/comment-page-1/#comment-18 Jay Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:13:35 +0000 http://www.hanumanmedicalfoundation.org/solvingdiabetes/?p=64#comment-18 Wow. As usual, I'm stunned by how much I don't know about this stuff. Thanks for the info, and keep these articles coming. Jay. Wow.

As usual, I’m stunned by how much I don’t know about this stuff. Thanks for the info, and keep these articles coming.

Jay.

]]> By: Scott King http://www.solvingdiabetes.org/2009/06/03/mouse-metabolism-and-diabetes-research/comment-page-1/#comment-14 Scott King Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:15:03 +0000 http://www.hanumanmedicalfoundation.org/solvingdiabetes/?p=64#comment-14 Jay- If you are interested in metabolism, no, there is no point in doing mouse experiments. Prof. Bergman, who considers himself a type 2 researcher, does almost nothing in rodents. His standard model is dogs. There are a couple of reasons why these things happen. First, it is much easier to get funding for mouse experiments, because the budget is much smaller than large animal experiments. Second, and you touched on this, transplantation researchers really are not interested in metabolism and don't know much about it. Everyone in metabolism knows the Bergman Minimal Model. I am not aware of anyone in islet transplantation that knows it. I'll tell a story. A few years ago I was at a scientific meeting and as usual the islet transplant researcher was showing mouse glucose tolerance tests and claiming that this proved his transplanted islets were responding to glucose. (As you know it only proves that the islets were making some insulin, not when they secreted it.) I must have been feeling ornery because I got up and explained that all mouse GGTs are identical and why. Fifty islet researchers just stared at me like I was mad. So they continue to measure and publish mouse GTTs. In our research we use rats, not mice, and we are not much interested in the rat metabolic results (except fasting blood sugar). We are interested in how the rats tolerate Islet Sheets, that is, whether there is an inflammatory reaction. Rats are useful for that (and cheaper than large animals). Jay-
If you are interested in metabolism, no, there is no point in doing mouse experiments. Prof. Bergman, who considers himself a type 2 researcher, does almost nothing in rodents. His standard model is dogs.
There are a couple of reasons why these things happen. First, it is much easier to get funding for mouse experiments, because the budget is much smaller than large animal experiments. Second, and you touched on this, transplantation researchers really are not interested in metabolism and don’t know much about it. Everyone in metabolism knows the Bergman Minimal Model. I am not aware of anyone in islet transplantation that knows it.
I’ll tell a story. A few years ago I was at a scientific meeting and as usual the islet transplant researcher was showing mouse glucose tolerance tests and claiming that this proved his transplanted islets were responding to glucose. (As you know it only proves that the islets were making some insulin, not when they secreted it.) I must have been feeling ornery because I got up and explained that all mouse GGTs are identical and why. Fifty islet researchers just stared at me like I was mad.
So they continue to measure and publish mouse GTTs.
In our research we use rats, not mice, and we are not much interested in the rat metabolic results (except fasting blood sugar). We are interested in how the rats tolerate Islet Sheets, that is, whether there is an inflammatory reaction. Rats are useful for that (and cheaper than large animals).

]]> By: Jay http://www.solvingdiabetes.org/2009/06/03/mouse-metabolism-and-diabetes-research/comment-page-1/#comment-13 Jay Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:33:11 +0000 http://www.hanumanmedicalfoundation.org/solvingdiabetes/?p=64#comment-13 Hi Scott, This was a great article, and it explained something that I had no appreciation of prior to reading this -- the phenomenon of glucose mediated glucose uptake. I had no idea, for instance, that mice did not directly require insulin for glucose uptake...that's incredible. I wish somebody had told me that sooner, as I've posted for years on the islet foundation's forum about mouse models etc. If this is true then what is the point of doing research on a mouse at all?? Is this a widely accepted theory of glucose metabolism? Jay. Hi Scott,

This was a great article, and it explained something that I had no appreciation of prior to reading this — the phenomenon of glucose mediated glucose uptake. I had no idea, for instance, that mice did not directly require insulin for glucose uptake…that’s incredible. I wish somebody had told me that sooner, as I’ve posted for years on the islet foundation’s forum about mouse models etc. If this is true then what is the point of doing research on a mouse at all?? Is this a widely accepted theory of glucose metabolism?

Jay.

]]>