Considering that sex differences in glucose metabolism are observed in mice, researchers unconsciously use male mice to reduce variations by an estrogen cycle in female mice. In this study, we investigated the sex differences in glucose homeostasis in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes inbred mice (C57BL/6J). The C57BL/6J male and female mice were injected with or without STZ (40 mg/kg) for 5 consecutive days. Levels of fasting blood glucose (FBG), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1C), lipid profiles, oral glucose tolerance, and insulin resistance were measured at 3 and 6 weeks after STZ treatment. The FBG level in the STZ-induced male (M-STZ) group was significantly higher than that in the STZ-induced female (F-STZ) group during the entire experimental period. Furthermore, HbA1C and glucose tolerance levels in the M-STZ group were significantly higher than those in the F-STZ group at 3 and 6 weeks after STZ treatment. The glucagon/insulin ratio in the M-STZ group was significantly higher than that in the F-STZ group. Values of the homeostatic model assessment-insulin resistance, an indicator of β-cell function and insulin resistance, significantly increased in both the M-STZ and F-STZ groups at 3 weeks after STZ treatment. However, insulin resistance was observed in the M-STZ group, but not in the F-STZ group, at 6 weeks after STZ treatment. Taken together, our results indicate that glucose metabolism in the M-STZ group was worse than that in the F-STZ group, indicating that estrogen may have an important role in glucose metabolism by STZ treatment.

中文翻译：

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链脲佐菌素诱发的糖尿病近交小鼠（C57BL / 6J）糖代谢的性别差异

考虑到在小鼠中观察到了葡萄糖代谢的性别差异，研究人员在不知不觉中使用雄性小鼠通过雌性小鼠的雌激素循环来减少变异。在这项研究中，我们调查了链脲佐菌素（STZ）诱导的糖尿病近交小鼠（C57BL / 6J）体内葡萄糖稳态的性别差异。连续5天给C57BL / 6J雄性和雌性小鼠注射或不注射STZ（40 mg / kg）。在STZ治疗后3周和6周测量空腹血糖（FBG），糖基化血红蛋白（HbA1C），脂质分布，口服葡萄糖耐量和胰岛素抵抗的水平。在整个实验期间，STZ诱导的男性（M-STZ）组的FBG水平显着高于STZ诱导的女性（F-STZ）组。此外，STZ治疗后3周和6周，M-STZ组的HbA1C和葡萄糖耐量水平显着高于F-STZ组。M-STZ组的胰高血糖素/胰岛素比率显着高于F-STZ组。在STZ治疗后3周，M-STZ和F-STZ组的稳态模型评估值-胰岛素抵抗（β细胞功能和胰岛素抵抗的指标）均显着增加。然而，在STZ治疗后6周，M-STZ组观察到胰岛素抵抗，而F-STZ组未观察到。综上所述，我们的结果表明，M-STZ组的葡萄糖代谢比F-STZ组的葡萄糖代谢差，表明雌激素可能通过STZ处理在葡萄糖代谢中起重要作用。