A physiological characterization of the high-fat diet on the induction of obesity in adult male Swiss mice

The global prevalence of obesity and overweight is increasing, with an estimated 750 million obese and 1.8 billion overweight adults worldwide. In light of this growing health concern, this paper aimed to examine the effects of a high-fat diet (HFD) on obesity using mice as an animal model. Adult male Swiss mice, aged 12-15 weeks and weighing between 27 and 31 g, were used in this study. The mice were divided into two groups: a treatment group that was fed HFD for six weeks, and a control group maintained on a normal feeding regimen for rodents. The mice were weighed on a weekly basis throughout the duration of the study. After six weeks, the mice were put under anaesthesia and blood samples were drawn directly from their hearts for testing purposes. It was discovered that the HFD group had a greater increase in body weight (61%) compared to the control group (46%). Additionally, the abdominal fat mass in the HFD group was twice as high as that of the control group (p < 0.005). Staining techniques revealed that the HFD mice accumulated significantly more abdominal fat relative to total body fat than the control group. Biochemical analysis of the blood samples showed that only triglyceride (TG) levels were appreciably augmented in the HFD group in contrast to the control group (p < 0.05). Other factors examined, including cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), did not show significant differences between the two groups. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that a six-week HFD induced early stages of obesity development in adult male Swiss mice. These data offer valuable insights into the effects of dietary interventions on obesity and may have implications for future research and treatment strategies.