Accu chek aviva blood glucose system

The Kunming mice used in this study were obtained from the Laboratory Animal Centre of Sun Yat-Sen University (Guangzhou, China). Eight-week-old female mice were used to induce diabetes mellitus by injecting STZ (Sigma, MO, USA) dissolved in 0.01 M citrate buffer at a pH of 4.5 and a dose of 75 mg kg⁻¹ body weight for three consecutive days. Blood glucose levels were measured 7 days after STZ injection by Roche Accu-Chek Aviva Blood Glucose System (Roche, USA). Diabetes mellitus was defined as a non-fasting blood glucose level greater than 288 mg dl⁻¹ (16 mM) [17 (link)]. Control mice were maintained euglycaemic prior to and during pregnancy (4–8 mM). Two female mice were housed with one normal male mouse overnight in a cage. The day when vaginal plugs were observed was designated as embryonic day 0.5 (E0.5). During pregnancy, blood glucose levels were monitored every 6 days. At E13.5 and E18.5, the embryos were dissected by Caesarean section after the pregnant mice were anaesthetized by an intraperitoneal injecting pentobarbital (150 mg kg⁻¹ body weight) [18 (link)]. The experiments were performed in triplicates for the three embryonic days, with 24 mice assigned to control and pregestational diabetes mellitus (PGDM) groups.

Eight-week-old female C57BL/6 J mice (Hua Fukang Biotechnology Company, Beijing, China) were injected with 75 mg/kg STZ (Sigma-Aldrich, USA) intraperitoneally for three consecutive days to induce diabetes mellitus. STZ was dissolved in 0.01 mol/l citrate buffer at a pH of 4.5. Seven days after STZ injection, the blood glucose level was measured by the Roche Accu-Chek Aviva Blood Glucose System (Roche, USA). A fasting blood glucose level > 288 mg/dl (16 mmol/l) indicated the successful modeling of diabetes mellitus [21 (link),22 (link)]. The mice in the control group were injected with an equal volume of citrate buffer and maintained normal fasting blood glucose levels (4–8 mmol/l) before and during pregnancy. Pregnancy was designated E0.5 when vaginal plugs were observed after mating. During pregnancy, the mice were monitored for random blood glucose levels every 6 days. At E18.5, after the pregnant mice were sacrificed by cervical dislocation, the embryos were removed by cesarean section.