Diabetes mellitus (DM) induces a decrease in skeletal muscle mass and bone mineral density, which trigger sarcopenia and osteoporosis. Multiple mechanisms are associated with DM-induced muscle atrophy and osteopenia, and their relative contributions may change as the disease stage progresses. Therefore, continuous monitoring of muscle mass and bone metabolism is required to investigate the functional linkage between DM and musculoskeletal disorders, which is difficult in basic research using small animals.
To address this issue, we proposed Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), a diagnostic imaging technique, as a continuous assessment of body composition method. We induced type 1 DM in mice by streptozotocin and measured their bone density, fat mass, and lean body mass using DXA for 4 weeks non-invasively. After 4 weeks we harvested the mice and measured the weight of the muscles and fat, the bone density, and blood levels of insulin and IGF-1. These values showed the progression of DM in the mice and were consisted with the values measured using DXA. We found DXA to be useful for monitoring changes in muscle and bone metabolism during the progression of DM. The application of DXA may enable continuous and non-invasive monitoring in animal models of various metabolic diseases.