Guidelines and Considerations for Metabolic Tolerance Tests in Mice

Abstract

Raquel Benedé-Ubieto,1,* Olga Estévez-Vázquez,1,* Pierluigi Ramadori,2 Francisco Javier Cubero,3,4 Yulia A Nevzorova1,4,5 1Department of Physiology, Genetics and Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, Complutense University, Madrid, Spain; 2Division of Chronic Inflammation and Cancer, German Cancer Research Center Heidelberg (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany; 3Department of Immunology, Ophthalmology & ENT, Complutense University School of Medicine, Madrid, Spain; 4 12 de Octubre Health Research Institute (imas12), Madrid, Spain; 5Department of Internal Medicine III, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Yulia A NevzorovaDepartment of Physiology, Genetics and Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, Complutense University, c/José A. Novais, 2, Madrid 28040, SpainTel [phone]Fax [phone]Email [email protected]: The epidemic of the century, Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is continuously rising. Intensive research is urgently needed whereby experimental models represent an essential tool to optimise the diagnostic strategy and to improve therapy. In this review, we describe the central principles of the metabolic tests available in order to study glucose and insulin homeostasis in mice, focusing on the most widely used – the glucose and insulin tolerance tests. We provide detailed experimental procedures as well as the practical implementation of these methods and discuss the main factors that should be taken into account when using this methodology.Keywords: metabolic tolerance test, T2DM, obesity, metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, glucose intolerance

Keywords

• metabolic tolerance test
• t2dm
• obesity
• metabolic syndrome
• insulin resistance
• glucose intolerance.