Schermerhorn Thomas
Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University , Manhattan, KS , USA.
Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2013 Dec 3;4:188. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2013.00188.
Carnivores, such as the dolphin and the domestic cat, have numerous adaptations that befit consumption of diets with high protein and fat content, with little carbohydrate content. Consequently, nutrient metabolism in carnivorous species differs substantially from that of non-carnivores. Important metabolic pathways known to differ between carnivores and non-carnivores are implicated in the development of diabetes and insulin resistance in non-carnivores: (1) the hepatic glucokinase (GCK) pathway is absent in healthy carnivores yet GCK deficiency may result in diabetes in rodents and humans, (2) healthy dolphins and cats are prone to periods of fasting hyperglycemia and exhibit insulin resistance, both of which are risk factors for diabetes in non-carnivores. Similarly, carnivores develop naturally occurring diseases such as hemochromatosis, fatty liver, obesity, and diabetes that have strong parallels with the same disorders in humans. Understanding how evolution, environment, diet, and domestication may play a role with nutrient metabolism in the dolphin and cat may also be relevant to human diabetes.
肉食动物，如海豚和家猫，有许多适应性特征，适合食用高蛋白、高脂肪且碳水化合物含量低的食物。因此，肉食动物的营养代谢与非肉食动物有很大不同。已知肉食动物和非肉食动物之间存在差异的重要代谢途径与非肉食动物糖尿病和胰岛素抵抗的发生有关：（1）健康的肉食动物不存在肝脏葡萄糖激酶（GCK）途径，但GCK缺乏可能导致啮齿动物和人类患糖尿病，（2）健康的海豚和猫容易出现空腹高血糖期并表现出胰岛素抵抗，这两者都是非肉食动物患糖尿病的风险因素。同样，肉食动物会自然发生诸如血色素沉着症、脂肪肝、肥胖症和糖尿病等疾病，这些疾病与人类的相同病症有很强的相似性。了解进化、环境、饮食和驯化如何在海豚和猫的营养代谢中发挥作用，可能也与人类糖尿病有关。
