COCVD

COCVD DIABETES RESEARCH CORE

The Diabetes Research Core provides research support to COCVD investigators whose projects involve determining the impact of insulin resistance and hyperglycemia in the cardiovascular consequences of obesity. The major risk cause of death in diabetics is vascular disease.  Assessment of insulin sensitivity is important in identifying mechanisms linking obesity to cardiovascular disease, since insulin, as well as glucose, have been demonstrated to influence various aspects of cardiovascular function. Because diabetes influences cardiovascular function and is a common feature of many of the obesity experimental animal models under study, it is imperative that assessment of insulin sensitivity be incorporated into these studies.

Under the direction of Dr. Susan Smyth, mentor of the COCVD, the Diabetes Research Core is able to perform euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp studies in mice to determine insulin sensitivity. The euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp is the gold standard in methods for reproducible and sensitive measurement of insulin sensitivity. The Diabetes Research Core utilizes the surgical suite in the University of Kentucky Division of Laboratory Animal Resources to perform these studies. The animal surgical suite provides inhalation systems for anesthesia using volatile anesthetics, and sterile surgical suites capable of housing the equipment needed to perform euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp studies in mice. The COCVD investigators are able to utilize euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp studies in a subset of all mice/rats with diet-induced or genetic obesity.

DIABETES RESEARCH CORE DIRECTOR
Susan Smyth, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor, Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine
Cardiovascular Research Center
Room 255 Biomedical/Biological Sciences Research Building
741 S. Limestone Street
University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY 40506-0027
Phone: 859-323-2274
Fax: 859-257-9783