Variation in type 2 diabetes–related traits in mouse strains susceptible to dietinduced obesity. Diabetes 2003

C57BL/6J (B6) and AKR/J (AKR) inbred strains of mice develop a comparable degree of obesity when fed a high-fat diet. However, although obese B6 mice are more glucose intolerant, obese AKR mice are more insulin resistant. To understand the basis for these strain differences, we characterized features of adiposity and glucose homeostasis in mice fed a high-fat diet for 8 weeks. The results indicated that despite hyperglycemia and impaired glucose tolerance, B6 mice have lower plasma insulin and are more insulin sensitive than AKR mice. Compared with adipose tissue of AKR mice, adi-pose tissue of B6 mice contained about threefold higher levels of total membrane-bound GLUT4 protein, whereas in skeletal muscle the levels were similar. Uptake of 2-[14C]deoxyglucose in vivo was reduced by