Recipes for creating animal models of diabetic cardiovascular disease.
For more than 50 years, investigators have unsuccessfully tried to recreate in experimental animals the cardiovascular complications of diabetes seen in humans. In particular, accelerated atherosclerosis and dilated cardiomyopathy, the major causes of mortality in patients with diabetes, have been conspicuously absent in many mouse models of the disease. Under the auspices of the NIH, the Animal Models of Diabetic Complications Consortium has worked to address this issue. This effort has focused on the development of mouse models because of the high level of genomic information available and the many well-developed genetic manipulations that may be performed in mice. Importantly, the consortium has also worked to standardize many methods to assess metabolic and cardiovascular end points for measurement of the diabetic state and its macrovascular complications. Finally, for maximum benefits from these animal models in the study of atherosclerosis and of other diabetic complications, the consortium has created a system for sharing both the animal models and the accumulated phenotypic data with the greater scientific community.
Hsueh
Willa
W
Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Hypertension, The David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Abel
E Dale
ED
Breslow
Jan L
JL
Maeda
Nobuyo
N
Davis
Richard C
RC
Fisher
Edward A
EA
Dansky
Hayes
H
McClain
Donald A
DA
McIndoe
Richard
R
Wassef
Momtaz K
MK
Rabadán-Diehl
Cristina
C
Goldberg
Ira J
IJ
D000818:Animals; D016633:Apolipoprotein A-II / Q000235:genetics; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000209:etiology*; D009202:Cardiomyopathies / Q000209:etiology*; D048909:Diabetes Complications / Q000209:etiology*; D003921:Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / Q000209:etiology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D007333:Insulin Resistance; D051379:Mice; D011973:Receptors, LDL / Q000235:genetics
D016633:Apolipoprotein A-II; D011973:Receptors, LDL