Abstract: Objective To observe the gastric motility of diabetic rats and to explore a method of establishing a diabetic gastroparesis (DGP) rat model by feeding diabetic rats with high fat and high sugar diet combined with intraperitoneal injection of STZ. Methods To establish diabetic rat model, normal SD rats were fed with high fat and high sugar diet (45% fat content) for 2 weeks; then streptozocin (STZ) 50 mg·kg-1 was intraperitoneally injected after fasting and free drinking water for 12 hours. Ten normal SD rats were randomly selected for normal group, and 10 SD rats modeled successfully for model group. Stomachs of rats in the 2 groups were taken after 8 weeks of common feeding to measure gastric emptying and intestinal propulsion rate. Results Rats in the model group had thin physique, weight loss, and increased food intake. Compared with the normal group, the blood glucose level of the model group was significantly higher (P <0.05), the weight of the gastric residue was significantly increased (P<0.05), and the gastric emptying was significantly decreased. There was a negative correlation between the rate of intestinal propulsion in the model group (correlation coefficient r=-0.46, P =0.041). Conclusion Diabetic rat modeled by administrating high fat and high sugar diet feeding combined with STZ intraperitoneal injection and then administrating normal feeding for 8 weeks can establish a DGP rat model, which can be an economical, simple, and feasible modeling method for DGP animal experiments.

Key words: high fat and high sugar diet, diabetic rats, gastroparesis, gastric emptying