[Diabetes mellitus and its animal models]

This review presents the major animal models usually used for the study of the pathological processes related to insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) and to the main diabetic complications. These models can be observed spontaneously or can be obtained by selective cross-breeding or toxic exposure (chemical or viral), as well as genetically induced. They reproduce some aspects of the human pathology without combining them all in a single model. Consequently, a pertinent pharmacological approach may compare the results obtained with several models. The examination of the recent results obtained with transgenesis does not allow these animal models to replace more classical ones but they may constitute a future challenge for gene therapy despite the multifactorial aspect of diabetic disease.