Glucocard x meter

The Seoul National University (SNU) designated pathogen free (DPF) pigs aged at least 6 months were used as xenogenic islet donors [22 (link)]. Male alpha 1, 3-galactosyltransferase knock-out mice (GalT KO) aged 7 to 12 weeks (kindly provide from Prof. Chung-Gyu Park, SNU) were used as recipients. Type 1 diabetes was confirmed with a portable glucometer (GLUCOCARD X-METER, Arkray, Kyoto, Japan); if random blood glucose levels from the tail vein exceeded 300 mg/dL for three consecutive days after intraperitoneal one-shot injection of 200 mg/kg dose of streptozotocin (STZ, Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA; freshly dissolved in 0.01 M citric acid buffer, pH 4.5), the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes was made. The GalT KO mice were maintained at a constant temperature in a cycle of 12 hours of light followed by 12 hours of dark and provided with laboratory chow and water. All of surgical interventions and presurgical and postsurgical animal care were provided in accordance with the Laboratory Animals Welfare Act, the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and the Guidelines and Policies for Rodent Survival Surgery provided by the IACUC (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee) in College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea (approval number: CUMS-2014-0105-02).

Body weights were monitored using a precision scale. For feeding studies, mice were singly-housed and acclimatized for 1 week prior to study. Daily food intake was manually measured for 5 consecutive days using a precision scale. Blood samples were collected via tail vein using a capillary collection system with EDTA (Sarstedt). Blood glucose concentration was measured using a glucometer (Glucocard X-meter, Arkray). Glucose tolerance tests (2 g/Kg) were performed on overnight (16 hour) fasted mice. Insulin sensitivity tests (0.2 IU/Kg; Humulin, Lilly) were conducted on 6-hour food-deprived mice.