Figure 7.

Characteristics of rats after weight loss. After 12 weeks of feeding with a cafeteria diet, rats (n=16) intensively gained weight (A), developing the obesity phenotype. Obese animals were subjected to CR for 6 weeks to lose weight. For the next four weeks, animals from the experimental (After Weight Loss, AWL) and control (ContA) groups received an isocaloric amount of calories (stabilization period) to ensure stable body weight. After weight loss, the rats did not show features of insulin resistance which was confirmed by insulin (B) and glucose (C) tolerance tests (n=5). The mass of the heart (n=9) (D) and size of the cardiomyocytes (n=3-4) (E) were restored after weight loss in rats which were previously obese. However, the interstitial (F) and perivascular (G) amount of connective tissue was elevated in these animals (n=6). Two-way ANOVA with Sidak’s multiple comparison test (A–C) and Student’s t-test was used for analyzing the data (*p<0.05, **p<0.01).