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Updated: Jul 27, 2025
Body Composition and Metabolic Caging Analysis in High Fat Fed Mice
Published on: May 24, 2018
Sex discrepancy in establishing mouse visceral obesity model induced by high-fat diet
Chenrui Peng1, Zhonghua Miao2, Yimei Wang2
1West China School of Public Health and West China Fourth Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China. 18908382672@163.com.
Objectives:
To establish a mouse visceral obesity model, and to investigate the effect of animal sex on this model.
Methods:
Thirty-two 4-week-old BALB/c mice were randomly divided into female control group, female high-fat group, male control group and male high-fat group with 8 mice in each group.The control groups were given ordinary diet, and the high-fat groups were given high-fat diet. After 12 weeks of feeding, body weight, visceral fat, fasting blood glucose, glucose tolerance, blood lipid and metabolism-related hormone levels were measured, and the composition of gut microbiota of mice was analyzed by 16S rRNA sequencing.
Results:
The high fat diet resulted in a significant increase of body weight and visceral fat content in male mice; the pathological results showed significantly increased fat area, accumulation of liver fat droplets, increased total cholesterol, fasting blood glucose, oral glucose tolerance and serum insulin levels (all P<0.05), as well as significant insulin resistance (P<0.01). However, the above changes were not significant in female mice. Compared with the control groups, there was an increase in the relative abundance of obesity-related gut microbiota in the model groups (such as Blautia), and the microbiota structure changed significantly, while the changes were less obvious in female mice.
Conclusions:
A visceral obesity mouse model has been stably established by feeding high-fat diet in BALB/c male mice, showing visceral fat accumulation, metabolic dysfunction and gut microbiota changes; while female mice are not sensitive in this obesity model.
