Chronic Feeding Studies in Mice

Male mice, aged 6–8 weeks, were group‐housed (five per cage) with ad libitum access to water and a 60% high fat diet (Research Diets, New Brunswick, NJ, USA) for 8 weeks. The mice were then individually housed and given 1 week to acclimatize before the study started, remaining on the high fat diet. Mice were given water or 16 mmol/kg L‐Arg o.g. (n = 9 per group) twice daily throughout the dark phase at 19:00 hours and then 01:00 hours for five nights. Body weight and food intake were measured daily at the beginning of the dark phase and at 1 h after the first daily gavage.