Kk ay male mice

Athymic BALB/c nude mice (5–6-week old, male) and C57 BL/6 (male) mice were purchased from Vital River Lab Animal Technology Co., Ltd (Beijing, China). KK-Ay (male) mice were purchased from Beijing HFK Bioscience Co., Ltd (Beijing, China). All animals were maintained in animal facility at the Institute of Materia Medica under Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) conditions. KK-Ay mice were fed with high-fat diet; blood glucose was detected weekly. The blood glucose level of KK-Ay mice reached to 16 mM at 6 weeks of age and were considered to be diabetic mice used in the studies of Figs 2 and 9 and Supplementary Figs 2 and 4. For animal studies, the mice were earmarked before grouping and then were randomly separated into groups by an independent person; however, no particular method of randomization was used. Sample size was predetermined empirically according to previous experience using the same strains and treatments. Generally, we used n>6 mice per genotype and condition. We ensured that experimental groups were balanced in terms of animal age and weight. All animal procedures were conducted in accordance with the guidelines of the Institutional Committee for the Ethics of Animal Care and Treatment in Biomedical Research of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College (Permit No. 002802).

A total of 60 eight-week-old KKAy male mice and 10 age-matched C57BL/6J male mice were purchased from Beijing HFK Bioscience Co. Ltd. (Beijing, China). The study was conducted in strict accordance with the recommendations in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals from the Association for the Committee for Animal Experiments of the National Centre. The protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. The mice were housed individually in a temperature (23 ± 2°C) and humidity (55 ± 10%) controlled environment with a 12 h light/dark cycle with free access to food and water.