A new mouse model of type 2 diabetes mellitus established through combination of high-fat diet, streptozotocin and glucocorticoid

•Glucocorticoids had a protective effect in reducing mortality in a T2DM mouse model.•Low-dose STZ injection multiple times was more beneficial to the formation of the T2DM model.•The combined intervention model showed stably reduced insulin sensitivity and an improved success rate of modeling.