The effect of a saccharose-rich diet on carbohydrate and lipid metabolism of streptozotocin-diabetic rats and genetically determined 'diabetic' mice (gg-diab).

Streptocotocin-diabetic rats were fed with a saccharose-rich diet (68 per cent saccharose) for 37 weeks. Serum levels of insulin, triglycerides, and cholesterol were determined thereafter as well as the lesions of kidneys by histologically evaluation. For the second series of experiments, genetically determined diabetic mice (transient hyperglycemia, low k-value, but no glucosuria), were fed with the saccharose-rich diet for eight weeks. Thereafter the serum levels of insulin, triglycerides, and cholesterol were determined as well as secretion and biosynthesis of insulin of isolated pancreatic mouse islets. The metabolic parameters and the determination of the kidney lesions revealed that saccharose-feeding deteriorates the diabetic state of streptocotocin-diabetic rats: the levels of serum glucose, urine volume and urinary glucose rose rapidly in the saccharose-fed diabetic rats. These animals showed significantly higher levels of triglycerides and cholesterol after 18 and 37 weeks compared with diabetic rats fed a control diet (68 per cent starch). The kidney lesions became still more severely expressed by saccharose-rich diet. On the other hand, no major differences in the serum parameters of saccharose- or starch-fed genetically determined mice could be noticed: no manifestation of diabetes could be provoked in these latent-diabetic mice.