Background: Streptozotocin is a classic drug used to induce diabetic animal models.
Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the liver transcriptome of diabetic Kunming mice induced by streptozotocin (STZ) or Non-STZ.
Methods: Forty male mice were randomly assigned into 4 groups, namely Control (Ctr, standard diet), mHH (high fat and high carbohydrate diet), mHS (high fat and high carbohydrate diet for 4 weeks followed by 60 mg/kg STZ for 3 consecutive days) and mSH (60 mg/kg STZ for 3 consecutive days and then fed with high fat and high carbohydrate diet for 12 weeks). All mice injected with STZ were identified as diabetes despite the sequential feeding of high fat and high carbohydrate diet.
Results: Only 7 of 13 mice in mHH group met the diagnostic criteria for diabetes. The FBG of mHH, mHS, mSH and Ctrl groups were 13.27 ± 1.14, 15.01 ± 2.59, 15.95 ± 4.38 and 6.28 ± 0.33 mmol/L at 12th week, respectively. Compared with mHH group, the transcriptions of 85 genes were elevated in liver of mHS mice while 21 genes were down-regulated, and 97 genes were shown to be up-regulated in mSH group while 35 genes were decreased. Total 43 co-expressed genes were identified in mHSvsmHH and mSHvsmHH groups. GO (Gene Ontology) and KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) analyses showed that there were 2 corporate GO terms and 2 KEGG pathways significantly annotated in STZ-treated groups. Both the GO term and pathway were related to the metabolism mediated by p53.
Conclusion: High fat and high carbohydrate diet combined with low dose of STZ can effectively induce diabetic models in Kunming mice despite the abnormal expressions of genes in the liver. The differentially expressed genes were related to the metabolism mediated by p53.