Genetically Modified Mice of Metabolic Disease

Metabolic disease is a major increasing health problem in industrialized societies,especially diabetes mellitus(DM) and obesity.The nature of marked heterogeneity with multifactorial genetic and environmental background of metabolic disease poses challenges to identify exact molecular mechanisms involved in treatment of these diseases.Appropriate experimental models are essential tools for understanding the pathogenesis,complications,and genetic or environmental influences that increase the risks of metabolic diabetes and finding new targets and the treatment of disease.In recent years,large number of new genetically modified animal models including transgenic,knock-out mice have been engineered for the study of diabetes,which further enhance the understanding of metabolic disease.This review gives an overview on the animal models of DM and obesity with reference to their origin,characteristic features,underlying mechanisms,advantages and disadvantages to the investigators in metabolic disease research.