Echomri 100tm

All procedures performed on animals were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at the University of Georgia and the methods were carried out in accordance with the approved protocol #A2014-07-008-Y1-A0. C57BL/6 mice (male) were purchased from Charles River (Wilmington, MA). For the prevention study, two groups of C57BL/6 mice with a body weight of 25 g were fed an HFD or regular chow continuously for eight weeks, while three groups of mice on an alternating diet (10 per group) were first fed five days of an HFD followed by either one, two, or five days of a regular diet. They were then switched back to five days of HFD feeding to start the second cycle. The repeating feeding cycles were maintained for a total of eight weeks. On day 56, five mice were sacrificed, and the remaining five were placed on the opposite diet to that which they were on at day 56 for one day and then sacrificed. For the treatment study, age-matched obese or normal C57BL/6 mice (male, average 55 g for obese mice) were fed an HFD, a regular diet, or an alternating diet for five weeks and sacrificed on day 36. Body weight and food intake were monitored daily and their body composition was determined using EchoMRI-100^TM from Echo Medical Systems (Houston, TX).

All procedures performed on animals were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at the University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia and the methods were carried out in accordance with the approved protocol #A2014-07-008-Y1-A0. For the prevention study, C57BL/6 mice (male, 8-week old) were housed under standard conditions with a 12 h light-dark cycle and fed an HFD for a total of 9 weeks. For the treatment study, mice were first fed an HFD for 25 weeks, reaching a body weight of 56 grams on average. Gene transfer was performed on the obese mice and the treated animals were continued on an HFD for additional 3 weeks. Hydrodynamic gene delivery was performed according to a pre-established procedure10 (link)41 (link)42 (link). Briefly, an appropriate volume of saline solution (equivalent to 8% lean mass) containing 20 μg pLIVE-NRG4 or pLIVE-SEAP was injected through the tail vein within 5–8 sec. The body weight of each mouse was measured on an electronic balance, and body composition was analyzed using an EchoMRI-100^TM (Echo Medical Systems, Houston, TX). Food intake per mouse was calculated based on the amount consumed divided by time and the number of mice per cage. Blood was collected at the desired time using a Microvette-CB300-LH. Rectal temperature of the mice was measured at the desired time using a specially designed Thermocouple Meter.

In vivo MRI using EchoMRI-100^TM (Echo Medical Systems, Houston, TX) was performed in order to measure body fat and lean content.