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Updated: Sep 13, 2026
Hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic Clamps in Conscious, Unrestrained Mice
Published on: November 16, 2011
A high carbohydrate diet does not induce hyperglycaemia in a mitochondrial glycerol-3-phosphate
1Laboratory of Metabolic Diseases, Rockefeller University, New York, USA.
Aims/Hypothesis:
The electrons of the glycolysis-derived reduced form of NADH are transferred to mitochondria through the NADH shuttle system. There are two NADH shuttles: the glycerol phosphate and malate-aspartate shuttle. Mice with a targeted disruption of mitochondrial glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, a rate-limiting enzyme of the glycerol phosphate shuttle, are not diabetic and have normal islet glucose-induced secretion. In this study, we analyzed if environmental factors, such as a high carbohydrate diet could contribute to the development of Type 2 diabetes mellitus in mice with a specific defective genetic background.
Methods:
The mice were fed with a high carbohydrate diet for 1 and 6 months, and several biochemical parameters were analysed. The mitochondrial respiratory activity was assayed by polarography; and the islet function was studied by islet perifusion and pancreas perfusion.
Results:
The high carbohydrate diet induced hyperglycaemia, hyperinsulinaemia, and islet hyperplasia in the wild-type and heterozygote mice. Activity of the respiratory chain complex I also increased in these mice. In contrast, these effects were not observed in the null mice fed with the diet; in addition, these null mice had an increased insulin sensitivity compared to wild-type mice.
Conclusion/Interpretation:
The phenotype of the mice with an impairment of NADH shuttles does not worsen when fed a high carbohydrate diet; moreover, the diet does not compromise islet function.
