Fig. 3

Body weight, body weight gain, FPG, IPGTT, IPITT and AUC during IPITT.a Body weights of SUR1^−/− rats at the beginning of the experiment were 35–40% (male 40%, female 35%) less than those of the wild-type group, and they remained significantly smaller than the wild-type throughout adulthood. b The curve showed that the body weight of SUR1^−/− male rats gained significantly slower than wild-type male rats. c SUR1^−/− rats were significantly more hypoglycaemic than wild-type rats when fasted for 12 h. Among the SUR1^−/− rats, the male showed lower fasting glucose levels than those of females at the age of 7 and 8 weeks. d-f SUR1^−/− rats displayed impaired glucose tolerance, and blood glucose levels of the SUR1^−/− rats were significantly higher than those of the wild-type at 15 min. Compared to SUR1^−/− males, female rats showed a more severely impaired glucose tolerance curve. g-l SUR1^−/− rats were insulin-hypersensitive, and a rapid and sustained reduction in serum glucose was observed in SUR1^−/− rats after injecting insulin. The values denote the means ± SEM. &: P < 0.05, SUR1^−/− male versus SUR1^−/− female. #: P < 0.05, SUR1^−/− female versus wild-type female. *: P < 0.05, SUR1^−/− male versus wild-type male. ^: P < 0.05, SUR1^−/− male versus wild-type female