Clinical characterization of alloxan induced diabetes mellitus in New Zealand White rabbits

Clinical implications of diabetes mellitus were investigated in alloxan induced rabbit model. Diabetes mellitus was induced in New Zealand White rabbits, 1–1.5 kg body weight, following administration of alloxan @100mg/kg b.w. pre-diabetic hypoglycaemia was managed by providing glucose therapy after 9 hours following alloxan administration and diabetes was established with fasting blood glucose levels >200 mg dL-1 on day 7. Changes in blood glucose levels with associated histological changes in pancreas were monitored at 15 days interval. Clinical signs, body weight, temperature and heart rate were also noted. Progressive increase in blood glucose levels was observed up to 5th week followed by a progressive decrease. However, moderate to marked hyperglycaemia persisted for eight weeks, and was associated clinically with polyuria and polydipsia, loss of body weight, and 20% mortality with terminal hypothermia. Heart rate was normal. Mild to severe hypocellularity with loss of beta cells was noted in pancreas. It was concluded that alloxan induced diabetes in rabbits persists for more than 8 weeks. However, the individual variation in glycaemic state and spontaneous progressive recovery at latter stage, in this diabetic model warrant critical consideration in any experimental setup suggesting use of weighed internal controls.