Refining mouse glucose homeostasis assessments

Why did we fund this project?

This award aims to refine oral glucose tolerance testing in mice by adapting a method to train the animals to voluntarily drink glucose solution from a micropipette.

Oral glucose tolerance tests are routinely used clinically to diagnose diabetes and are also a critical step in diabetes research to assess how quickly mice can clear excess glucose from the blood. Glucose is typically administered by oral gavage or intraperitoneal injection, both of which are aversive procedures. Dr Kate Ellacott will adapt a method developed by Dr Tina Notter (University of Zurich) to train mice to voluntarily take glucose from a micropipette. Voluntary uptake avoids handling the animals during the procedure, preventing stress and subsequent stress-impacted changes in blood glucose levels. This method also more closely mimics glucose tolerance tests conducted in humans. Kate will develop a standard operating procedure for the method and disseminate this to six project partners across the UK and internationally, including members of the Mouse Metabolic Phenotyping Centers and the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium.