Genetic analysis of glucose tolerance in inbred mouse strains. Evidence for polygenic control.

To determine genetic factors involved in diabetes susceptibility in inbred strains of mice, we initially evaluated differences in fed plasma glucose and insulin concentrations among six strains (AKR/J, C3H/HeJ, C57BL/6J, C57L/J, DBA/2J, and SWR/J). There was considerable variation in fed plasma glucose concentration, with C3H/HeJ mice the most glucose tolerant (174 +/- 7 mg/dl) and C57BL/6J mice the least glucose tolerant (252 +/- 7 mg/dl, P less than .0001 vs. C3H/HeJ mice). Glycosylated hemoglobin of C57BL/6J mice (4.0 +/- 0.06%) was also higher than that of C3H/HeJ mice (3.52 +/- 0.06%, P less than .0001). The fed plasma insulin concentration did not differ between these two strains. Glucose tolerance was further evaluated in overnight-fasted C3H/HeJ and C57BL/6J mice by an intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test (IPGTT). Although fasting plasma glucose did not differ, the most remarkable difference in plasma glucose during IPGTT between C57BL/6J and C3H/HeJ mice was noted at 30 min (489 +/- 29 vs. 227 +/- 20 mg/dl, P less than .001). To determine the number of genes involved in the phenotypic difference in glucose tolerance, C57BL/6J males were crossed with C3H/HeJ females (F1, C3H/HeJ X C57BL/6J), and the F1 hybrid females were backcrossed with C57BL/6J males (backcrossed, F1 X C57BL/6J). Plasma glucose after 30 min on IPGTT was 219 +/- 8 (n = 21), 456 +/- 18 (n = 23), and 292 +/- 13 (n = 23) mg/dl for C3H/HeJ, C57BL/6J, and F1 mice, respectively (P less than .001 for all comparisons).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)