A Mouse Model of Diet-Induced Obesity Resembling Most Features of Human Metabolic Syndrome

• Main Authors: Maria C. Della Vedova, Marcos D. Muñoz, Lucas D. Santillan, Maria G. Plateo-Pignatari, Maria J. Germanó, Martín E. Rinaldi Tosi, Silvina Garcia, Nidia N. Gomez, Miguel W. Fornes, Sandra E. Gomez Mejiba, Dario C. Ramirez
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publishing 2016-01-01
• Series: Nutrition and Metabolic Insights
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.4137/NMI.S32907

Increased chicken-derived fat and fructose consumption in the human diet is paralleled by an increasing prevalence of obesity and metabolic syndrome (MS). Herein, we aimed at developing and characterizing a mouse model of diet-induced obesity (DIO) resembling most of the key features of the human MS. To accomplish this, we fed male C57BL/6J mice for 4, 8, 12, and 16 weeks with either a low-fat diet (LFD) or a high-chicken-fat diet (HFD) and tap water with or without 10% fructose (F). This experimental design resulted in the following four experimental groups: LFD, LFD + F, HFD, and HFD + F. Over the feeding period, and on a weekly basis, the HFD + F group had more caloric intake and gained more weight than the other experimental groups. Compared to the other groups, and at the end of the feeding period, the HFD + F group had a higher adipogenic index, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, fasting basal glycemia, insulin resistance, hypertension, and atherogenic index and showed steatohepatitis and systemic oxidative stress/inflammation. A mouse model of DIO that will allow us to study the effect of MS in different organs and systems has been developed and characterized.