Guidelines for the antidiabetic assay for bioactive substances in cell model

Abstract Diabetes is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by hyperglycemia. Insulin resistance (IR) and insufficient insulin secretion are important pathophysiological basis and significant characteristics of diabetes. At present, animal is still the main model for investigation of Antidiabetic activity of bioactive substances, however, in vivo models always has the problems of long experimental cycle, complicated experiment, and high cost. Compared with the animal models, cell culture could avoid some impossible or difficult to eliminate under natural conditions, and observe the experimental results more simply, economically, quickly, and objectively. In this case, the establishment of in vitro diabetic cell model has gradually developed. Recently, cell models are more widely used in high‐throughput screening, metabolism analysis, molecular pharmacology investigation, pharmacodynamics evaluation of natural product, cell function, interaction between receptors and cytokines, and so on. These guidelines will point out and discuss to help researchers to choose cell model that are truly reliable and can be successfully applied for their intended investigation of antidiabetic activity.