RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Individual housing of male C57BL/6J mice after weaning impairs growth and predisposes for obesity
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 834416
DO 10.1101/834416
A1 Lidewij Schipper
A1 Steffen van Heijningen
A1 Giorgio Karapetsas
A1 Eline M. van der Beek
A1 Gertjan van Dijk
YR 2019
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/11/07/834416.abstract
AB Individual housing from weaning onwards resulted in reduced growth rate during adolescence in male C57Bl/6J mice that were housed individually, while energy intake and energy expenditure were increased compared to socially housed counterparts. At 6 weeks of age, these mice had reduced lean body mass, but significantly higher white adipose tissue mass compared to socially housed mice. Body weight gain of individually housed animals exceeded that of socially housed mice during adulthood, with elevations in both energy intake and expenditure. At 18 weeks of age, individually housed mice showed higher adiposity and higher mRNA expression of UCP-1 in inguinal white adipose tissue. Exposure to an obesogenic diet starting at 6 weeks of age further amplified body weight gain and adipose tissue deposition. This study shows that post-weaning individual housing of male mice results in impaired adolescent growth and higher susceptibility to obesity in adulthood. Mice are widely used to study obesity and cardiometabolic comorbidities. For (metabolic) research models using mice, (social) housing practices should be carefully considered and regarded as a potential confounder due to their modulating effect on metabolic health outcomes.