Characterization of a novel congenic strain of diabetic fatty (WBN/Kob-Leprfa) rat

Toshio Akimoto
Kazumasa Nakama
Yasumi Katsuta
Xue-Jun Zhang
Masaru Ohsuga
Masamichi Ishizaki
Nobuhiko Sawai
Hitoshi Ozawa

The WBN/Kob-Leprfa rat is a new congenic strain for the fa allele of the leptin receptor gene (Lepr). Homozygous (fa/fa) WBN/Kob-Leprfa rats provide a model of non-insulin-dependent diabetes with obesity. Here
 we describe the characteristics of this new animal model in detail. At 7 weeks of age
 both male and female obese WBN/Kob rats showed inflammatory cell infiltration of the pancreas that suggested pan-pancreatitis and an abnormal OGTT. At 3 months of age
 both male and female obese WBN/Kob rats developed overt diabetes mellitus associated with severe chronic pancreatitis. In contrast
 lean female WBN/Kob rats do not develop pancreatitis or diabetes. In WBN/Kob rats
 this mutation might promote the onset of severe pancreatitis
 leading to the rapid development of diabetes mellitus. c 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications

366

2

10.1016/j.bbrc.2007.12.003

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc.2007.12.003
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18068663