Diabetic syndrome in sand rats. II. Variability and association with diet

Nutritionally Induced Diabetes in Desert Rodents as Models of Type 2 Diabetes: Acomys cahirinus (Spiny Mice) and Psammomys obesus (Desert Gerbil)

The dietary effects of hyperglycemia increasingly result in type 2 diabetes in humans. Two species, the spiny mice (Acomys cahirinus) and the desert gerbil (Psammomys obesus), which have different metabolic responses to such effects, are discussed. Spiny mice exemplify a pathway that leads to diabetes without marked insulin resistance due to low supply of insulin on abundant nutrition, possibly characteristic of a desert animal. They respond with obesity and glucose intolerance, beta-cell hyperplasia, and hypertrophy on a standard rodent diet supplemented with fat-rich seeds. The accompanying hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia are mild and intermittent but after a few months, the enlarged pancreatic islets suddenly collapse, resulting in loss of insulin and ketosis. Glucose and other secretagogues produce only limited insulin release in vivo and in vitro, pointing to the inherent disability of the beta-cells to respond with proper insulin secretion despite their ample insulin content. On a 50% sucrose diet there is marked lipogenesis with hyperlipidemia without obesity or diabetes, although beta-cell hypertrophy is evident. P.obesus is characterized by muscle insulin resistance and the inability of insulin to activate the insulin signaling on a high-energy (HE) diet. Insulin resistance imposes a vicious cycle of Hyperglycemia and compensatory hyperinsulinemia, leading to beta-cell failure and increased secretion of proinsulin. Ultrastructural studies reveal gradual disappearance of beta-cell glucokinase, GLUT 2 transporter, and insulin, followed by apoptosis of beta-cells. Studies using the non-insulin-resistant HE diet-fed animals maintained as a control group are discussed. The insulin resistance that is evident to date in the normoglycemic state on a low-energy diet indicates sparing of glucose fuel in muscles of a desert-adapted animal for the benefit of glucose obligatory tissues. Also discussed are the effect of Psammomys age on the disabetogenicity of the HE diet; the impaired function of several components of the insulin signal transduction pathway in muscles, which reduces the availability of GLUT4 transporter; the testing of several antidiabetic modalities for the prevention of nutritional diabetes in Psammomys; and various complications related to the diabetic condition.

The Harderian gland in diabetic sand rats (Psammomys obesus) a light microscopic study

The purpose of this study was to examine the long-term effects of synthetic diet on the sand rat Harderian gland. From the third month, animals showed a diabetic syndrome characterized histologically by Harderian gland necrotic changes. Some gland tubules and melanocytes were disintegrated and numerous mast cells were densely populated in the connective capsule of the gland. Moreover, luminal porphyrin accretions and cellular debris were often associated with alcian blue positive materials. If the synthetic diet lasted more than 6 months, the gland was strongly damaged and numerous plasma cells, macrophages, and lymphocytes infiltrated the gland. These results clearly demonstrate that the sand rat Harderian gland is affected by the diabetic syndrome induced by the synthetic diet.

Activities of liver pyruvate dehydrogenase complex and 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase in sand rat (Psammomys obesus)

The sand rat (Psammomys obesus) is an animal model for non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, which is induced by a regular chow diet. The total activity of liver pyruvate dehydrogenase complex in the sand rats under normoglycemic and normoinsulinemic conditions was one half as high as that in the albino rats, but the activity of liver 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase was more than 4 times greater in the former than in the latter, suggesting a low capacity for glucose oxidation and a high capacity for fatty acid oxidation in the sand rats. These metabolic conditions may be related to the predisposition of the animals towards diabetes. Diet-induced diabetes in the sand rats resulted in decreasing the active form of liver pyruvate dehydrogenase complex and in increasing the activity of liver 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase, suggesting that the diabetic conditions further suppress glucose oxidation and promote fatty acid oxidation.

Hyperinsulinemia induces a reversible impairment in insulin receptor function leading to diabetes in the sand rat model of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus

The insulin receptor was evaluated at different disease stages in the sand rat (Psammomys obesus), a model for nutrition-induced diabetes. Nondiabetic sand rats showed markedly low receptor number in liver compared with albino rats. Their receptor had an intact tyrosine kinase activity but a higher Km for ATP in the phosphorylation reaction of exogenous substrates. The initial effects of overeating (i.e., development of hyperinsulinemia without hyperglycemia) were associated in the sand rat with a dramatic decrease in in vitro and in vivo insulin-induced receptor tyrosine kinase activity in both liver and muscle. In muscle, this coincided with a decrease in receptor number and an increase in basal tyrosine kinase activity. Similar changes were observed upon development of hyperinsulinemia with hyperglycemia. Upon recovery from the diabetic state by diet restriction, the impaired receptor kinase activation was corrected. Complete restoration occurred only in animals that fully recovered from the diabetic state and became normoinsulinemic. These observations indicate that loss and gain of receptor tyrosine kinase activity were dependent on insulin levels. Thus, overeating may lead to the development of hyperinsulinemia through ineffective extraction of excess insulin by the scarce liver receptors. Hyperinsulinemia, in turn, causes a reversible reduction in receptor kinase activity, leading to insulin resistance. This sequence of events may be relevant to diet-related changes in human non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

Regulation of lipoprotein lipase activity in the sand rat: effect of nutritional state and cAMP modulation

The sand rat (Psammomys obesus) is a desert rodent in which obesity and diabetes mellitus appeared only subsequent to feeding laboratory animal chow. To study the role of lipoprotein lipase in the development and maintenance of obesity in the sand rat, enzyme activity in various organs and in plasma of sand rats or albino rats was determined following a 20-hour fast, or 16 hours after injection of cholera toxin. Despite comparable change in body weight, an altered pattern of enzyme distribution and regulation was observed in the sand rat. Neither fasting nor cholera toxin had an effect on heart and daiphragm muscle lipoprotein lipase activity of the sand rat, but caused a 1.5- to 2-fold increase in the treated albino rats. By using an isolated perfused heart system, we were able to measure enzyme activity present in the heparin-releasable fraction that represents the functional pool of the enzyme. In both species, the heparin-releasable fraction of the heart increased twofold following fasting, though initial values were lower in sand rat. In both species, fasting and cholera toxin administration resulted in an increase in plasma and liver lipoprotein lipase activity. Adipose tissue lipoprotein lipase activity of sand rat, unlike the albino rats, was similar in the various fat regions and was not lowered by food deprivation or cholera toxin administration. After both treatments, sand rat plasma insulin levels exceeded fivefold those of albino rats. Adipose tissue lipoprotein lipase activity of fed and fasted normal and diabetic sand rats correlated negatively with plasma insulin and glucose levels.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Dietary effects on (pro)insulin biosynthesis and insulin-degrading activity in islets from sand rats

Sand rats were fed either a vegetable (vegetable group) or a standard pellet diet. After 14-16 weeks, the normoglycemic subgroup selected (pellet group) from the animals that had been maintained on the standard diet showed a modest increase in body weight. Plasma immunoreactive insulin levels were not significantly increased, but glucose-stimulated insulin release was elevated from islets isolated from sand rats of the pellet group. Insulin biosynthesis was estimated in vitro by measuring [3H]leucine incorporation into (pro)insulin at 1.5 or 15 mmol/l glucose. The rate of (pro)insulin biosynthesis was elevated only at 15 mmol/l glucose in islets from those normoglycemic sand rats fed the pellet diet when compared with islets from the vegetable group. Specific insulin-degrading activity, as determined by measuring degradation of 125I-labeled insulin, was also increased for islets from the pellet group. The metabolic state of these sand rats is thus associated with normoglycemia in vivo, and increased stimulated rates of insulin biosynthesis and degradation in pancreatic islets in vitro.

Lipogenesis in the sand rat (Psammomys obesus)

Synthesis of fatty acids was measured in the liver and in epididymal adipose tissue of sand rats and albino rats. In chow-fed sand rats the rate of hepatic lipogenesis, as measured by the incorporation of 3H2O into fatty acids, was four- to sevenfold higher than in albino rats and in sand rats on a low-calorie saltbush diet. The contribution of [14C]glucose to lipogenesis in sand rat liver was lower than in albino rats. In fed sand rats lipogenesis incorporating 3H2O was stimulated by casein but not by glucose. In adipose tissue, lipogenesis measured 1 h after administration of 3H2O was much lower in sand rats than in albino rats. In vitro incorporation of [14C]glucose or acetate into adipose tissue fatty acids was negligible. In adipose tissue, uptake of very-low-density lipoproteins (VLDL) and lipoprotein lipase activity were sevenfold higher than in albino rats. Activities of NADP-malate dehydrogenase, acetyl CoA carboxylase, and fatty acid synthetase were considerably higher in the liver of chow-fed sand rats than in albino rats. It was concluded that obesity in sand rats originates from hepatic lipogenesis without a significant contribution of local fatty acid synthesis in adipose tissue.