Experimental Diabetic Neuropathy: A Newer Insight to Diet Induced Models in Animals

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is the most prevalent form of diabetes and accounts for approximately 95% of diabetic cases. One of the most common and debilitating complications associated with diabetes is diabetic neuropathy (DN) which affects about 10% of newly diagnosed diabetes patients and more than 50% of patients with longstanding diabetes. Animal models are widely used in the research of diabetes and its complications, where rats and mice are most commonly used animals for these experimental models. The present review summarizes the current understanding of the metabolic profile and pathology involved in the development of diabetic neuropathy. Different models of diabetic neuropathy in an experimental setup are described and finally an insight of diet induced models of DN is highlighted. Recent studies have described that diet induced models are beneficial over chemical-mediated and genetically-mediated models in the development of type 2 diabetic neuropathy. The High Fat Diet (HFD) combined with low doses of streptozotocin is the most successful and well established model of diet induced neuropathy, which mimics natural progress of diabetes development as well as metabolic features in human type 2 diabetes HFD causes obesity and insulin resistance in peripheral tissues due to lipotoxicity, while, low dose of streptozotocin induces mild defect in insulin secretion.