Search of model animals with a new standpoint for basic research on prevention of obesity

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25560043
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Eating habits
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: IKEDA Ikuo 東北大学, (連合)農学研究科(研究院), 教授 (40136544)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: visceral fat / high fat diet / low fat diet / triacylglycerol / db/db mouse / C57BL/6J mouse / SD rat

Outline of Final Research Achievements

To study if differential levels of dietary fat and carbohydrate change the deposition of visceral fat in experimental animals, I explored several model animals in which isocaloric high fat-low carbohydrate and low fat-high carbohydrate diets influence the deposition of visceral fats. Measurement of energy metabolism revealed that db/db mice have a low ability to consume dietary fat. However, the other animal strains I examined had relatively higher ability to consume dietary fat compared with db/db mice. As a result, growth of db/db mice fed a high fat-low carbohydrate diet was higher than that fed a low fat-high carbohydrate diet. However, visceral fat weight was not significantly increased in the feeding of a high fat-low carbohydrate diet. Therefore, it is thought that dietary fat should be increased to get clear results in studies of db/db mice. This study suggest that db/db mice can be utilized as a model to reveal mechanisms of obesity induced by isocaloric high fat diet.

Free Research Field

農学