New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine North babylon, New York
Background and Hypothesis: Previous reports suggest that many systems have been shown to contribute to insulin action and glucose homeostasis, including the autonomic nervous system, thoracolumbar diaphragm, abdominal lymphatic system, pancreas, liver, and adrenal glands. This proof-of-concept study targets these areas, and demonstrates the feasibility of performing osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) on adult rats, filling a gap in the literature as it pertains to animal OMT research.
Methods: Two groups of male rats were used, with three rats per group for the pilot phase. One group was fed a normal chow diet, whereas the other was fed a high-fat diet to induce obesity and insulin resistance. The high-fat diet rats were weighed every two weeks and blood glucose measurements began one month after starting the high-fat diet. In the pilot, rats fed with chow diet were anesthetized daily with isoflurane followed by OMT (rib raising and thoracolumbar diaphragm, celiac ganglia, suboccipital, and thoracic outlet release). Glucose was measured using a glucometer on blood from the tail immediately pre-OMT, 5 minutes post-OMT, and 15 minutes post-OMT. Sham control rats were anesthetized in parallel and received light touch.
Results: The rats were able to be anesthetized and OMT, sequential blood glucose drawings, and weighing could be performed. The practitioner palpated somatic dysfunctions, indicating OMT will be possible in these animals. OMT does not acutely alter blood glucose levels in male rats fed with normal chow diet; however, blood glucose was altered, possibly from the isoflurane gas. There was a significant increase in the blood glucose of high fat diet rats at times 5 and 15 minutes post-treatment (p < 0.001 for both).
Conclusion: This study demonstrates great promise in being able to study the efficacy of OMT in rats. The team will continue to assess both acute and long-term effects of OMT on insulin sensitivity and glucose homeostasis in normal and obese rats. Study limitations included rodent sex. Future studies will use both males and females to account for size and temperament differences accompanying sex. A major takeaway from this study is that somatic dysfunctions can be palpated on animals of this size and that it is possible to perform OMT and assess outcomes on rats.
Acknowledgement of Research Study Sponsors and IRB: Funding for this study was provided by the NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine In-House Grant Program (2022-2023). As this study did not include humans, it is exempt by the institution’s Institutional Review Board (IRB); it did receive IACUC approval (Protocol #2022-WKC-04A2).
