i have to perform glycaemia measurement in mice over time. do i always have to starve the animals for 3/4 hours before the measurement? (i am using glucose strips for the assessment)
Monika, whether you measure blood glucose in mice, fed ad libitum, or after a fasting period for a fixed time, depends entirely on the design of your study... in other words, the question you are trying to address.
We routinely alternate and perform both measurements. Fasting measurements can give you a better idea about hyperglycemia that is partially corrected, whereas the postprandial or ad libitum fed animals may always exceed the upper limit of measurements (>600 mg/dl) and consequently provide no additional information that distinguishes one condition or group from another in case of severely diabetic animals with limited capacity to correct hyperglycemia.
Ideally yes, if you want to get consistent and higher probability of reproducible results.As pointed out by Dr.Tausif, finally it depends on your aim and design of study.
Biju Joseph