C57bl 6j

All experimental procedures were performed according to the Guidelines for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of Tsumura & Co. Ethical approval for the experimental procedures used in this study was obtained from the Laboratory Animal Committee of Tsumura & Co (approval no. 06–28, 07–94). Male ob/ob mice (B6.Cg-Lepob/J, six-week-old) and C57BL/6J (six-week-old) were purchased from Charles River Laboratories Japan, Inc. (Kanagawa, Japan). The ob/ob mice are known as leptin-deficient obese mice with the hyperphagia phenotype.
After one week of acclimatization (Week 0), male, seven-week-old ob/ob and C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into groups and fed a standard diet, MF (Oriental Yeast Co., Ltd., Tokyo Japan) or MF supplemented with 5% (w/w) BTS, for four weeks. The dosage of BTS for murine experiments was determined according to previous reports [24 (link)]. Body weight was measured weekly (Week 0, 1, 2, 3, 4). Daily food intake was measured at Week 1, 2, and 4. The present study design is as shown in Figure 1.

SDSE, GAS, and Staphylococcus aureus (SA) strains were cultured in brain heart infusion (BHI) broth overnight at 37°C in an atmosphere containing 5% CO₂ (Table 1). Homozygous (diabetic) and heterozygous (nondiabetic) BKS.Cg-Dock7 m+/+Lepr^db/J mice, heterozygous B6.BKS(D)-Lepr^db/J mice, and C57BL/6J mice were purchased from Oriental Yeast Co., Ltd., Jackson Laboratory, and Japan SLC, Inc., respectively. IL-6 knockout mice with a C57BL/6J background were obtained as a gift from Dr. Iwakura (Tokyo University of Science, Japan). All animal experiments were performed in accordance with Act on Welfare and Management of Animals (revised in 2012, Ministry of the Environment, Japan) and approved by The National Center for Global Health and Medicine Animal Experiment Committee.

Male C57BL/6J mice were purchased from The Jackson Laboratory Japan, Inc. (Yokohama, Japan). Male TH-GFP-expressing transgenic mice were obtained from the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN BRC, Ibaraki, Japan) [62 (link)]. C57BL/6J mice (aged 4–8 weeks old) and transgenic mice expressing TH-GFP (aged 7–34 weeks old) were used in experiments. C57BL/6J mice and TH-GFP-expressing transgenic mice were housed in a 12-hour light/dark cycle (07:00–19:00) with conventional food (MF, Oriental Yeast Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan; CE-2, CLEA, Tokyo, Japan) and water ad libitum. Animal experiments with C57BL/6J mice were approved by the Experimental Animal Ethics Committees of Tsumura & Co. and animal experiments with TH-GFP-expressing transgenic mice were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Fukushima Medical University.