Freestyle easy touch glucose meter

Nine rats were not injected with STZ and functioned as normal (nondiabetic) rats. For STZ treatment, in fifteen rats, diabetes was induced by a single intraperitoneal injection of 55 mg/kg STZ solutions, prepared immediately before use, in 0.1 M citrate buffer (pH 4.5). The second dose was administered on day 14 following the first STZ dose, at 60 mg/kg doses. The goal was to generate a prediabetic hyperglycemic state [18 (link), 19 (link)]. At days 2 and 9 after the STZ injection, fasting and postprandial blood glucose levels were measured using a FreeStyle Easy Touch glucose meter (Abbott Diabetes Care Inc., Alameda, CA, USA) from blood taken from the tip of the tail. The rats with a fasting glucose of 100 mg·dl⁻¹ and/or postprandial blood glucose levels of ≥140 mg dl⁻¹ were considered as type 2 diabetic. Of this group of 15 rats, 9 eight-week-old rats of 190–220 g with established T2DM (DM hereon after) were selected for the intervention study with taro flour and taro starch.
The rats consumed Purified Rodent Diet AIN-93M, a modified AIN-76A standard diet (American Institute of Nutrition) [17 (link)] as a control and mineral water from water bottles ad libitum.

The rats in the two groups (diabetic (DM) rats and nondiabetic (non-DM) rats (n = 9 each)) were divided into three treatment groups (n = 3 each): AIN-93M (hereon after AIN), modified AIN by replacing corn starch with taro flour, and modified AIN by replacing corn starch with taro starch. Sucrose and cellulose were replaced with maltodextrin (Table 1). Feeding adaptation was conducted for 4 days, with 25, 50, 75, and 100% dietary intervention formulation, respectively, prior to four-week dietary treatments. Bodyweight was measured weekly. In addition, fasting blood samples were taken for measurements of fasting glucose (FreeStyle Easy Touch glucose meter; Abbott Diabetes Care Inc.). Moreover, blood samples were taken weekly from the tip of the tail and stored at −20°C for measurements of GLP-1 and PYY. Also, freshly voided fecal pellets were collected weekly and stored at −80°C for the determination of gut microbiota composition.