Effects of α-glucosidase inhibitors on post-prandial serum glucose and insulin concentration in obese cats

Abstract

Obesity causes insulin resistance in cat, and is a risk factor for Type-2 diabetes mellitus. Diabetic cats are treated with prescription diets firstly, and low-carbohydrate and high-fiber diets are usually recommended. Type-2 diabetic patients in human are recommended oral hypoglycemic drugs when diet therapy cannot improve their glycemic control. However, very few studies had been reported using oral hypoglycemic drugs for diabetic cats in veterinary medicine. In the present study, we investigated the effects of single administra tion for a-glucosidase inhibitors（acarbose, boglibose and miglitol）on serum glucose and insulin concentra tion in obese cats with feeding high-carbohydrate diets. No significant change was observed in temporal analysis of post-prandial glucose levels between the medication groups and the non-medication group. However, areas under the curve of glucose levels in the acarbose group and the voglibose group were signifi cantly smaller than that in non-medication group and the miglitol group showed tends to lower than non medication group. There are no significant difference in temporal analysis of insulin levels and areas under the curve of insulin levels between the medication groups and the non-medication group. Since decreased areas under the curve of glucose levels were observed in the medication groups, it suggested that α-glucosidase inhibitors also had an effect of inhibition for glucose absorption in obese cats as in humans.