Ef r m

Male Sprague-Dawley rats (Charles River Breeding Laboratories, Wilmington, MA) aged 7 weeks, 200 ± 7 g, were housed at a 12-h light–dark cycle, 22 °C, and 40–60% humidity. All rats had free access to water and rat food (ProvimiKliba AG, Kaiseraugst, Switzerland). The control group was maintained on ssniff® EF R/M. Obesity was induced by placing the animals on a HF (23.0 kJ/g, 59% fat, 27% carbohydrate, and 14% (EF RAT [E15744] Ssniff Spezialdiäten GmbH) for an average of 2 months. Animals maintained on the HF diet were pair-fed (kcals) with the animals exposed to an ad libitum control diet. The energy content of the high-fat and standard diets were 5.04 and 3.59 kcal/g (20.1 and 15.0 kJ/g), respectively. Since there were multiple rats in each cage, the calorie intake was calculated by dividing the total cage calorie intake by the number of animals per cage. Rats were fasted overnight before surgery and given oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTTs).

The study was performed in accordance with the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. Male Sprague-Dawley rats (Charles River Breeding Laboratories, Wilmington, Mass) aged 7 weeks, 200 ± 7 g, were housed in a 12 h light-dark cycle, 22°C, and 40–60% humidity. All rats had free access to water and rat food (Provimi Kliba AG, Kaiseraugst, Switzerland). The control group was maintained on ssniff® EF R/M. Obesity was induced by placing the animals on a high-fat diet (HF; 23.0 kJ/g, 59% fat, 27% carbohydrate, and 14% protein (EF RAT/E15744/ssniff Spezialdiäten GmbH) for an average of two months. Animals maintained on the HF diet were pair-fed (kcal) with the animals exposed to an ad libitum control diet. The energy content of the high-fat and standard diets were 5.04 and 3.59 kcal/g (20.1 and 15.0 kJ/g), respectively.