Streptozotocin-Induced Rat Model of T1DM

Type 1 diabetes mellitus was induced as previously described [27 (link)]. Briefly, rats were treated with streptozotocin (STZ, 55 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) or its vehicle (sodium citrate buffer, 50 mM, pH 4.5), and blood glucose concentrations in the tail-vein blood samples were measured using ACCU-CHEK test strips (Roche Diagnostics, Basel, Switzerland) three days after STZ injection. Rats with blood glucose concentrations greater than 250 mg/dL were included in the study. For the acute study, 8-OH-DPAT (0.25, 0.5 and 1.0 mg/kg, i.p.) was administered one week after STZ injection, whereas, for the chronic study, 8-OH-DPAT (0.5 mg/kg, i.p.) was administered eight weeks after STZ injection.