Compared with humans, several inbred rodent strains have naturally high levels of circulating glucocorticoids (GCs), which can influence the development of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Thus, GC levels and their effects need to be accounted for in rodent studies of T2D. Beddow and Samuel assessed the involvement of corticosterone in T2D in the Goto-Kakizaki rat, a non-obese, spontaneously diabetic strain for which information on GCs was not previously available. They found that Goto-Kakizaki rats have higher levels of corticosterone than a control strain, and that drug-mediated lowering of corticosterone levels normalised plasma glucose and improved insulin sensitivity. Thus, future studies that use this established model of T2D – and others with naturally high circulating levels of GCs –should take the effects of GCs into account. Page 681

Written by editorial staff. © 2012. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.
2012
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