LONG-TERM ADMINISTRATION OF A SUCROSE-RICH DIET TO NORMAL RATS - RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN METABOLIC AND HORMONAL PROFILES AND MORPHOLOGICAL-CHANGES IN THE ENDOCRINE PANCREAS

The aim of the present investigation was to study normal rats fed a su crose-rich diet (SRD) for a prolonged period (up to 30 weeks) (1) to o btain additional data on the hormonal and metabolic patterns induced b y this treatment and (2) to provide information on changes taking plac e in the pancreatic islet cell populations. We found that long-term fe eding with a SRD resulted in a steady state of hypertriglyceridemia an d hyperglycemia in which insulin levels remained unchanged and unable to compensate for the increased demands of the developing metabolic ch anges. The endocrine pancreas showed a significant increase of both is let number and B-cell area, as well as changes in the profile of islet cell distribution. However, these changes were not accompanied by an increase in the pancreatic content of immunoreactive insulin (IRI). It may therefore be postulated that the newly emerged B-cell mass has so me sort of derangement with the increased insulin demand resulting fro m insulin resistance induced by the long-term SRD feeding. Thus, feedi ng a SRD to normal rats may prove to be an attractive animal model for studying the role of environmental nutritional factors in the unsettl ed issue of the relationship between insulin resistance and relative i nsulin deficiency. The model might provide key information for underst anding the pathophysiology of human diseases such as type II diabetes, dyslipidemia, and a number of entities included in so-called syndrome X. Copyright (C) 1996 by W.B. Saunders Company