A practical guide for induction of type-2 diabetes in rat: Incorporating a high-fat diet and streptozotocin

- Feeding a high fat diet (HFD) to rats causes insulin resistance.
- Administration of low-dose streptozotocin (STZ) causes β-cell dysfunction.
- Combining a HFD with low-dose STZ induces type-2 diabetes (T2D).
- HFD-STZ-T2D exhibits the metabolic characteristics similar to those seen in human T2D.

Prevalence of diabetes, a serious public health problem is rapidly increasing worldwide. Type-2 diabetes is the common form of diabetes characterized by insulin resistance and abnormalities in insulin production. Despite the current development of therapeutic agents, there is no effective treatment without side effects; it is therefore necessary to find new prevention strategies and better treatments. For this purpose animal models of diabetes are appropriate tools, of which rodents due to the short generation time and economic considerations are the first choice. The aim of this review is to present features of a frequently used model of type-2 diabetes in rat, induced by a high fat diet and streptozotocin, taking into account its advantages/disadvantages and presenting a practical guide.

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