Simple method to avoid overlooked pain and disease during metabolic tolerance tests

Jens Lund, BRIDGE Fellow, Novo Nordisk Foundation center for basic metabolic research.

Development of new drugs as well as basic research into metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, obesity and liver and cardiovascular diseases often involve research in animal models. Here, scientists investigate how genes but also e.g. diet, exercise, circadian rhythms and other environmental factors affect blood sugar. To assess how the body keeps the blood sugar in balance, so-called "metabolic tolerance tests" are carried out in which solutions of e.g. sugar (or substances which the body can convert into sugar) are carefully injected into the abdominal cavity of experimental animals.

In this type of research, an overlooked problem is that the injected solutions are far too concentrated compared to the tissue fluids they are injected into. This causes great pain in the experimental animals - and can be compared to having salt rubbed into an open wound. In the worst-case scenario, injections of these highly concentrated solutions can also destroy the tissue around the injection site.

In this research project, we will develop a new and simple method for performing metabolic tolerance tests in laboratory animals. This novel and refined method will minimize pain and avoid the tissue damage induced by current methods. Through simple methodological changes, our project can thus help reduce unnecessary pain and markedly improve the welfare of laboratory mice and rats.

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