Indian Fish new diabetes model

Scientists in India, considered by many to be the emerging hotspot of the diabetes world, have succeeded in inducing type 2 diabetes in fish. The freshwater Indian Perch (Anabas Testudineus) had the disease induced in them by being fed with a compound called palminate. Palminate is a free fatty acid, and is one of the contributory factors in the development of diabetes.
Experts found that when Palminate was fed to the Indian Perch over the course of 100 days, their body mass increased by over 60 per cent. Their glucose and insulin levels also shot up by 2.5 times. Scientists also noted that the fish became insulin resistant, and this led to further accumulation of glucose in their blood.
The study was carried out by experts from the Indian Institute of chemical biology and the School of Life Sciences, and will be reported in the journal Current Science. The study has important implications for using the nutritionally induced diabetic perch as an animal model in the study of type 2 diabetes.
Perch can be bred and maintained under laboratory conditions, scientists said, and they can also bear the stress of surgery and have a quick recovery period. If the type 2 diabetes epidemic is to be diverted, the disease requires new animal models for the development of new therapies.