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Review
. 2018 Mar;14(3):140-162.
doi: 10.1038/nrendo.2017.161. Epub 2018 Jan 19.

Animal models of obesity and diabetes mellitus

Maximilian Kleinert  1   2   3   4 , Christoffer Clemmensen  1   2   3 , Susanna M Hofmann  3   5   6 , Mary C Moore  7 , Simone Renner  3   8 , Stephen C Woods  9 , Peter Huypens  3   10 , Johannes Beckers  3   10   11 , Martin Hrabe de Angelis  3   10   11 , Annette Schürmann  3   12 , Mostafa Bakhti  3   5   13 , Martin Klingenspor  14   15   16 , Mark Heiman  17 , Alan D Cherrington  7 , Michael Ristow  18 , Heiko Lickert  3   5   13 , Eckhard Wolf  3   8 , Peter J Havel  19 , Timo D Müller  1   2   3 , Matthias H Tschöp  1   2   3
Affiliations
Free article
Review

Animal models of obesity and diabetes mellitus

Maximilian Kleinert et al. Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2018 Mar.
Free article

Abstract

More than one-third of the worldwide population is overweight or obese and therefore at risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus. In order to mitigate this pandemic, safer and more potent therapeutics are urgently required. This necessitates the continued use of animal models to discover, validate and optimize novel therapeutics for their safe use in humans. In order to improve the transition from bench to bedside, researchers must not only carefully select the appropriate model but also draw the right conclusions. In this Review, we consolidate the key information on the currently available animal models of obesity and diabetes and highlight the advantages, limitations and important caveats of each of these models.

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