Diet induced obesity

Mice utilized for diet-induced obesity studies were male CB6F1/J mice (Jackson Laboratories Stock #100007) which are the F1 generation of a cross between male C57BL/6 and female Balb/c. Mice were obtained at three weeks of age, housed at Vanderbilt for three days on the standard chow diet after which time they were fed either control (10% calories from fat; 4.3% fat by weight, D12450Bi, Research Diets, New Brunswick, NJ), HFD (45% calories from fat; 24% fat by weight, D12451i, Research Diets), or very high fat diet (VHFD) (60% calories from fat; 34.9% fat by weight, D12492i, Research Diets). Mice were maintained on a 12-hour light/dark cycle and housed with three to five animals per cage on corncob bedding except during fasting when placed on Pure-o’Cel™ bedding (The Andersons, Maumee, OH). Mice were weighed weekly and body composition was assessed every four weeks by pulsed NMR (Bruker Instruments, The Woodlands, TX) at the Vanderbilt Mouse Metabolic Phenotyping Center. After 17 weeks of defined diet feeding, mice were injected via SC with 20 mg/kg DG-041 or vehicle twice daily for one week. At the termination of the experiment, mice were euthanized by isoflurane overdose and liver, epididymal fat pads, and skeletal muscle were dissected. All procedures were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at Vanderbilt University.