Figure 2.

Basic characteristics of RD- and HPD-fed mice. Mice were fed RD or HPD diet for 4 or 12 weeks. Their body mass was determined at time points indicated (A). Visceral fat and livers were weighed after 12 weeks of feeding (C,D). The estimated amount of palmitic acid consumed by each mouse among 8 RD or 8 HPD animals examined at 4 or 12 weeks of feeding was calculated assuming that its weight gain (obtained by subtraction of the initial weight from the one reached at the end of 4- or 12-week feeding) was proportional to the amount of consumed food (B). Visualization and quantitation of neutral lipids with oil red O staining was performed in 4- and 12-week RD and HPD livers. Selected areas were enlarged 1.5-fold. Scale bar, 100 μm (E). Serum levels of alkaline phosphatase, AP (F), alanine aminotransferase, ALT (G), aspartate aminotransferase, AST (H), pancreatic lipase (I), total cholesterol (J) and triglycerides (K) were determined after 4 and 12 weeks. Fasting glucose was determined after 8 and 10 weeks of the feeding (L). Data from 8 RD and 8 HPD mice (A–D), from 3 RD and 3 HPD mice (E), from 7 RD and 7 HPD mice at 4 weeks and 8 RD and 8 HPD mice at 12 weeks in (F–K) and from 4 RD and 4 HPD mice in (L) are shown as mean ± s.d. *, **, ***, significantly different at p < 0.05, p < 0.01 and p < 0.001, as indicated by two-tailed, independent t-test (A,E), Kruskal-Wallis test with Mann-Whitney U test as a post hoc (B–D,F,G,J,L) and one-way Anova with Scheffe’s post-hoc test (H,I,K).