Animal model of a high-fat diet (HFD) in C57BL/6J mice

Female C57BL/6J mice that were 8–10 weeks old were obtained from Shanghai SLAC Laboratory Animal Co. Ltd (Shanghai, China). Mice were housed in a controlled environment of 25±2°C and 50±5% humidity, with a 12-hour light and dark cycle. Mice were given free access to food and water. All laboratory animals were housed and cared for in accordance with the guidelines for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, published by the US National Institutes of Health (8th edition, revised, 2011). Ethical approval for the animal experiments was given by the Local Ethics Committee of Nantong University (Approval No. 20150305-015). Mice were randomly divided into two groups that included a control group fed a diet of standard rodent chow with 11% fat (ND) (n=15) and a high-fat diet group (HFD) (n=15) fed with a rodent diet containing 60% fat (Cat. No: D12492) (Research Diets Inc., New Brunswick, NJ, USA). The mice in the two study groups were maintained on their diets for 36 weeks.