Echomri 700

Animal experiments were performed following approved protocols by Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees of Seoul National University (SNU-201107-1, SNU-201221-3). C57BL/6 male mice and CIDEA reporter mice [17 (link)] were used (8-week-old, male). Mice were housed at 12 h-light/12 h-dark cycle condition with free access to a normal chow diet (NCD, Purina Lab, 38057, protein: 24.52% calories, carbohydrates: 63.07% calories, fat: 12.41% calories, Seongnam, Republic of Korea) and water at 22 ± 1 °C. For the diet-induced obesity model, 8-week-old male mice were fed a HFD (Research Diets, D12492, protein: 20% kcal, carbohydrate: 20% kcal, fat: 60% kcal, New Brunswick, NJ, USA) for 8 weeks. Mice were treated either with LJ-4378 (1 mg kg⁻¹ day⁻¹) or vehicle intraperitoneally for 10 days [8 (link)]. LJ-4378 was dissolved in dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) and diluted in sterile 0.9% saline (0.2% DMSO as the final concentration).
Indirect calorimetry was performed to measure expenditure (EE), VO_2, VCO₂, activity and food intake using PhenoMaster (TSE Systems, Bad Homburg, Germany). Body composition was measured by nuclear magnetic resonance scanning EchoMRI-700 (Echo Medical Systems, India).
Mice were randomly assigned to experimental groups, and experimental groups of mice were not blinded.

The EchoMRI-700™ self-contained quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance system (Echo Medical Systems, L.L.C., Houston, TX, USA) was used to determine the rats body composition (lean mass, fat mass, and total body water) without the need of anesthesia. The adiposity index (AI) was calculated as the sum of the four white adipose tissue depots weights and expressed as a percentage of the total body weight.

Body composition was recorded for all groups (n = 22–47) using an EchoMRI 700 (Echo Medical Systems, Houston, TX, USA) before HFD exposure and at 12 weeks on assigned diet [62 (link),63 (link)]. Changes in fat mass, lean mass, and body weight were calculated and statistically analyzed.