Alphatrak blood glucose monitoring system

Mouse tail blood glucose was determined in duplicate using an Abbott Laboratories AlphaTRAK Blood Glucose Monitoring System (North Chicago, IL, USA) by methods we have previously described (31 (link)).

All murine experiments were performed complying with the protocols approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of The Ohio State University. Immunocompromised NOD/SCID mice were purchased from Jackson laboratory (Bar Harbor, ME) and 8-10-week-old male mice were used in this study to avoid any hormonal influences during the healing process. After a week of acclimatization, mice were fasted for 4 hours before injecting streptozotocin (STZ) as described earlier^{18 (link)}. Briefly, 50 mg/kg doses of STZ (Teva parenterals Inc, Irvine, CA) were dissolved in citrate buffer (pH 4.2) and injected intraperitoneally for 5 consecutive days. To assess development of diabetes, non-fasting blood glucose levels were monitored every week by using AlphaTRAK blood glucose monitoring system (Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, IL, USA). A drop of blood was collected from the tip of the tail after brief anesthesia and placed on the blood glucose monitoring system. The resulting blood glucose level was above 300 mg/dl, and was considered a diabetic phenotype in NOD/SCID mice.

Mice were assessed at 9.5 months of age, two weeks prior to tissue harvesting, using an Abbott Laboratories AlphaTRAK Blood Glucose Monitoring System. Mice were fasted for 8 hours prior to measurements, and blood collected using a tail snip.

Mice were initially fed a standard chow of NIH-31 modified open formula (Teklad 7013, Madison, WI, USA) containing 18% calories from protein, 6.2% from fat and 45% from carbohydrates. Mice were then transferred to a feed of open source uniform-base diets, for respective studies, containing either 10% calories from fat (low-fat diet [LFD]; D12450B, Research Diets, New Brunswick, NJ, USA) or 60% calories from fat (HFD; D12492, Research Diets, New Brunswick, NJ, USA). Both diets provided 20% calories from protein. Mouse weight was recorded for the respective weeks using an Adventurer Pro digital scale (Ohaus, Parsippany, NJ, USA). Blood glucose testing results were recorded for the respective weeks by fasting mice for 12 h during their light cycle and sampling tail blood. For glyburide studies, blood glucose testing was conducted immediately post-behavior testing with ad libitum access to food. Glucose was quantified by using an AlphaTRAK blood glucose monitoring system (Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, IL, USA).