High-protein diet: effect on insulin secretion patterns from streptozotocin-diabetic rats and mice

In the present study we have investigated the effect of a high-protein feeding on glucose induced-insulin secretion patterns from high dose streptozotocin (SZ) injected rats and mice, and from mice given multiple low doses of SZ. For this purpose male rats and mice were fed either a high-protein, carbohydrate-free diet, or control diets, before and after i.p. injections of SZ, or citrate buffer only. Our results show that when SZ was given as a single diabetogenic dose, rats and mice kept on the high-protein diet presented lower serum glucose levels, normal basal insulin values, and higher first and second phases of stimulated insulin release, when compared with diabetic animals on control diets. Furthermore, when rats prolonged their high-protein feeding from 4 to 11 days after SZ injection, there was an additional increment in insulin secretory capacity with a further diminution in serum glucose levels. We also show that high-protein feeding in mice given multiple low doses of SZ (a model of autoimmune diabetes), produced a diminution in serum glucose values, and an improvement in both phases of stimulated insulin release. Thus, in the two models of experimental diabetes used here, high-protein feeding exerts beneficial effects in beta cell responsiveness to glucose.