Animal Models in Diabetes Mellitus: An Overview

Diabetes mellitus is defined as a state in which homeostasis of carbohydrate and lipid metabolism is improperly regulated by insulin. This results primarily in elevated fasting and postprandial blood glucose levels. If this imbalanced homeostasis dose not returns to normalcy and continues for a protracted period of time, it leads to hyperglycemia, which in due course turns into a syndrome called diabetes mellitus. Several animal models have been developed for studying diabetes mellitus or testing anti-diabetic agents. These models include chemical, surgical (pancreatectomy) and genetic manipulations in several animal species to induce diabetes mellitus. The diabetogenic drugs used include: Alloxan monohydrate, Streptozotocin with or without nicotinamide, Ferric nitrilotriacetate, Ditizona and Anti-insulin serum. The selection of these models to use for investigating the antidiabetic properties of a new compound may be a very difficult task especially for young researchers. The aim of the present review is give a brief idea about various experimental models developed for studying diabetes mellitus, assess the merits and demerits of each model and highlight the precautions needed to avoid erroneous results during the applications of these models. Keywords: Diabetes Mellitus, Animal models, Alloxan, Streptozotocin