Response of a diabetic strain of mouse to oral tolbutamide.

Search is constantly going on to find an animal with diabetes mellitus like features so that a model akin to human diabetes is available for screening of potential hypoglycemic agents of both plant and synthetic origin. The KK strain of mice was discovered by Nakamura (1). Nakamura (1) has shown by carrying out glucose tolerance tests on 28 KK strain of mice that the majority show a blood sugar curve similar to human diabetics. The insulin content of the pancreas was in excess of that found in normal mice. The response of the blood sugar level in this strain of mice to oral tolbutamide has not yet been investigated and in this study this response has been studied in ten mice of the KK strain. In further ten animals the effect of alloxan on the blood sugar level has been seen. Oral tolbutamide at a dose of 20 mg/kg orally was administered to ten mice of the KK strain after a level of fasting blood sugar was obtained. Three hours later another sample of blood was collected from