INS and type 1 diabetes mellitus: STZ treatment rapidly produced the characteristic signs of type 1 diabetes such as sustained increased nonfasting plasma glucose concentration (30.1 ± 4 versus 7.2 ± 0.5 mmol/L, Figure 1(a)), intake of both food (32 ± 9 versus 24 ± 7 g/d, P > 0.05, Figure 1(b)) and water (90 ± 15 versus 44 ± 10 mL/d, P < 0.05, Figure 1(c)) as well as significant decreased nonfasting plasma insulin concentrations (0.24 ± 0.04 versus 2.3 ± 0.3 ng/mL, P < 0.01, Figure 1(d)) as compared to the control rats.