Blood and liver lipid concentrations in EDS shrews exhibiting spontaneous non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM)

The EDS (early-onset diabetes in suncus) colony was developed as a new labo ratory colony of the musk shrew and is characterized by a high incidence of early-onset spontaneous non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). W e examined blood lipid (triglyceride [TG], total cholesterol [TC], phosphol ipid [PL], free fatty acid [FFA]) and liver lipid (TG, TC, PQ concentration s to investigate the features of lipid metabolism in these animals. All lip id concentrations examined both in blood and liver of the diabetic shrews h ad a tendency toward higher values than those in non-diabetic shrews. The P L concentration was the only parameter that barely showed a significant dif ference. Values for all blood lipid concentrations in diabetic shrews at 7- 9 months tended to be higher than those of 2-month-old diabetic shrews, alt hough the difference was not significant. These findings indicate that diab etic EDS shrews exhibit a much milder defect of lipid metabolism induced by NOW than other rodent models.