Optium xido glucose meter

The rats were fasted for 16 h and sacrificed. Blood was collected aseptically by direct cardiac puncture and centrifuged at 3000× g at 4 °C for 5 min to collect plasma (samples were aliquoted and stored at −80 °C). The heart was excised and weighed, and the LV was frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at −80 °C.
Plasma TG and cholesterol levels were measured using commercial kits (BioSystems, Barcelona, Spain). Plasma free FA (FFA) levels were measured using the NEFA-HR(2) Kit (Wako, Richmond, VA, USA). Glucose levels were measured in blood samples that were collected from the tail using glucose strips with an Optium Xido glucose meter (Abbott, Alameda, CA, USA).

The mice were fed a HF diet (60% calories from fat; Harlan-Tekland) for 6 weeks. The animals were monitored for weight gain every week. After 6 weeks of the diet, the glucose tolerance test was performed. Male mice (n = 3 mice/group) were fasted overnight (∼15 h) with water available ad libitum. Blood glucose levels were measured from tail blood using glucose strips with an Optium Xido glucose meter (Abbott, Warsaw, Poland) before the glucose injection (baseline, 0 min) and 15, 30, 60, 90, and 120 min after an intraperitoneal injection of glucose (1.5 mg glucose/g body weight).

Plasma TG levels were measured using a commercial kit (BioSystems, Barcelona, Spain). Plasma FFA levels were measured using the NEFA-HR(2) Kit (Wako, Richmond, VA, USA). Thyroid hormone levels were determined using commercial kits (TSH using the Thyroid Stimulating Hormone kit, Cloud-Clone, Houston, TX, USA; fT3 using the Mouse Free Tri-iodothyronine [Free-T3] enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA] kit, CUSABIO, Wuhan, China; T4 using the Mouse/Rat Thyroxine [T4] ELISA kit, Calbiotech, Spring Valley, CA, USA) according to the manufacturers’ instructions. Glucose levels were measured in blood samples that were collected from the tails using glucose strips with an Optium Xido glucose meter (Abbott, Alameda, CA, USA).