Dysglycemia and Dyslipidemia Models in Nonhuman Primates: Part I. Model of Naturally Occurring Diabetes

Insulin-resistant diabetes (Type 2 diabetes mellitus, T2DM) is one of the main comorbidities of obesity and is the most common form of diabetes. T2DM and obesity dynamically influence each other and often escalate patients’ other health issues. Cardiovascular, renal and other health consequences of obesity and diabetes have been studied for several decades. However, the underlying precise mechanisms and interactions of obesity and insulin-resistant diabetes have yet to be elucidated further. It has been recognized that sustained greater energy intake than expenditure is the main cause of obesity that can potentially lead to insulin resistance and diabetes due to excessive fat accumulation. To better understand the pathophysiology of human obesity and diabetes, nonhuman primate (NHP) models have been used for research to delineate molecular and cellular mechanisms because of the similarity of the metabolic diseases between NHP and humans. Also, NHP models have been well used for testing new novel therapies, which provides critical pre-clinic information for drug discovery. This article summarizes the data collected from a large scale of the naturally occurring diabetes monkeys housed in our facility. Manuscripts for other NHP models, such as diet-induced dyslipidemia and dysglycemia and streptozocin-induced diabetes, developed in our facility will follow lately.