Validation of Diet-Induced Obese Mouse Model Using Swiss Albino Mouse Strain For In Vivo Pharmacological Metabolic Research

Abstract

Summary

Obesity prevalence has increased constantly and reached a global epidemic proportion over recent decades¹. Obesity and accompanied metabolic disorders such as insulin resistance, diabetes and cardiovascular complications are considered as the greatest health problems in modern society contributing to the health care burden worldwide nowadays. Obesity is a complex, chronic disorder that occurs as a result of many factors including genetic, behavioral, environmental, physiological, social and cultural factors. However, the fundamental etiology could be attributed to an energy imbalance between food consumption, basal metabolism and energy expenditure which is more and more popular with the sedentary life in modern society².

The animal models are extremely important tools for studying the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of obesity and metabolic complications as well as developing therapeutic approaches in management of obesity and metabolic disorders. In addition to obese mouse models caused by genetic mutations (e.g. ob/ob and db/db mice), the mouse model of diet-induced obesity is a polygenic model and has become one of the most important tools for understanding of obesity development and in pharmacological studies³. C57BL/6J mouse strain is considered as the most popular diet-induced obese mouse model as this mouse strain is sensitive to high fat diet and well mimics the human metabolic derangements observed in obesity development³. Unfortunately, the unavailability of inventoried diet-induced obese C57BL/6J mouse strain in Vietnam limits the local scientists in the biomedical community to do research on metabolic studies with high fat diet (HFD). We herein attempted to set up and validate a diet-induced obese mouse model of low cost and easy reproducibility using Swiss albino mouse strain which is commonly available in 

Vietnam (obtained from Pasteur Institute at Ho Chi Minh city). Successfully establishing a diet-induced obese mouse model with Swiss albino mouse strain would enable further institutional pharmacological research studies in the future.