Fructose-fedstreptozotocin-injected rat:

ad libitum for 2 weeks. During this period, the two control groups received normal drinking water whilst the fructose groups received 10, 20, 30 and 40 % fructose in drinking water ad libitum, respectively. After two weeks of dietary manipulation, all groups except the NC group received a single injection (ip) of streptozotocin (STZ) (40 mg/kg b.w.) dissolved in citrate buffer (pH 4.4). The NC group received only a vehicle buffer injection (ip). One week after the STZ injection, animals with non-fasting blood glucose levels> 300 mg/dl were considered as diabetic. Three weeks after the STZ injection, the animals in FR20, FR30 and FR40 groups were elimi-nated from the study due to the severity of diabetes and the FR10 group was selected for the remainder of the 11 weeks experimental period. The significantly (p < 0.05) higher fluid intake, blood glucose, serum lipids, liver glycogen, liver function enzymes and insu-lin resistance (HOMA-IR) and significantly (p < 0.05) lower body weight, oral glucose tolerance, number of pancreatic b-cells and pancreatic b-cell functions (HOMA-b) of FR10 group demonstrate that the 10 % fructose-fed followed by 40 mg/kg of BW STZ in-jected rat can be a new and alternative model for T2D. Key words: fructose, streptozotocin, type 2 diabetes, rat, animal model, experimental diabetes Abbreviations: ALT – alanine transaminase, AST – aspartate transaminase, b.w. – body weight, DBC – diabetic control, ELISA – enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, FBG – fastin