An Experimental Approach for Selecting Appropriate Rodent Diets for Research Studies on Metabolic Disorders

Diverse high energy diets have been utilized to precipitate obesity and related metabolic disorders in rodent models, though the dietary intervention has not absolutely been standardized. The present study established usage of a customized semipurified normal control diet (NCD) and high fat diet (HFD), for research studies on diet-induced metabolic disorders in albino rats. Male Wistar rats were fed with normal pellet diet (NPD) or customized NCDs I, II, III or HFDs I, II, III for 12 weeks and parameters, namely, body weight, visceral adiposity, serum triglycerides, cholesterol, and glucose were evaluated to select an appropriate NCD and HFD. The selected HFD was further evaluated for induction of fatty liver, whilst type 2 diabetes (T2D) induction was confirmed in HFD and streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetes model in Wistar rats. Amongst different diets tested, NCD-I and HFD-I were selected, since NCD-I exhibited close resemblance to NPD, whereas HFD-I induced metabolic alterations, particularly obesity and dyslipidemia consistently. Moreover, HFD-I elevated terminal hepatic lipids, while HFD-I/STZ treatment augmented insulin resistance index and serum glucose levels significantly indicating effective induction of fatty liver and T2D, respectively. Therefore, customized semipurified NCD-I and HFD-I can be recommended for research studies on diet-induced metabolic disorders in albino Wistar rats.