The chinchilla as a novel animal model of gestational diabetes

Abstract

BackgroundGestational diabetes occurs in 3–4% of all pregnancies, thereby being one of the leading pregnancy diseases in developed countries. The disease poses important health implications for both mother and child. Several animal models exist in this field, but with significant limitations. Consequently we want to introduce the pregnant chinchilla as a novel animal model of gestational diabetes. The chinchilla is excelled for various reasons; it gives birth to one or two cubs, is pregnant for 115 day and has a histological similar placenta barrier as compared with the human one. Since the chinchilla has never been used in diabetic studies, we aimed to show that it is possible to make it diabetic, before making a gestational model.Streptozotocin is by far the most applied method to induce diabetes in animal models, mimicking the ethology of diabetes type 1. However, since gestational diabetes is due to insulin resistance, we wanted to use high fructose feed as a method to induce diabetes.MethodsTwelve chinchillas were included in the study, six of which received high fructose diet to induce diabetes and six who received control diets. Blood glucose was monitored using Abbott Libre Freestyle glucometer. After 19 weeks the animals were euthanized and organs and blood withdrawn for analysis.Preliminary resultsNon‐fasting plasma glucose levels in chinchillas fed with high fructose diet was 19.3 ± 6.9 mmol/l, compared to controls 11.1 ± 2.2 mmol/l, p=0.056. Furthermore, DXA scans showed significant higher body fat percentage among fructose animals, p=0.043 compared to controls. HBA1C was, however, not affected in any of the groups.ConclusionWe have proven it possible to induce high blood glucose levels in the chinchilla by using high fructose diet. Because of the low sample size the blood glucose levels were, however, not statistically significant between groups. In spite of this, we consider the chinchilla a promising option for a future model of gestational diabetes.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.