Lower fat accumulation in ETB-deficient mice than wild type mice following 12 weeks on high-fat diet. (A) Scheme of study design. (B) Course of body weight (n = 22 per group) of wild type mice (etb+/+) and ETB-deficient (etb−/−) mice during 12 weeks of feeding a high-fat diet (HFD). Relative weight gain as percentage (C), weight of different fat depots (D and F: right panels), total white adipose tissue (WAT) (D: left panel) and brown adipose tissue (BAT) (F: left panel) expressed as percentage of mean of etb+/+ mice after 12 weeks on HFD (n = 22 per group for all). (E) Photograph of the opened abdomen of an ETB-deficient (etb−/−) and a wild type mouse (etb+/+) after feeding HFD for 12 weeks. (G) Serum leptin concentration before (n = 6 per group) and after (n = 4–5 per group) 12 weeks on HFD. (H) Average food intake of etb+/+ and etb−/− mice on normal diet (n = 7 per group) or on HFD (n = 3–5 per group). All parameters are given as arithmetic means ± SEM. ∗p < 0.05, ∗∗p < 0.01 and ∗∗∗p < 0.001 indicate significant difference between the genotypes. (B: two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni's post-hoc test for comparison of individual time points; C, D, G and H: two-tailed unpaired Student's t test (for F (left panel) and for analysis of serum leptin concertation on normal diet, Welch's correction was applied); F: (right panel): Mann–Whitney U test).