A comparison of two commercial diets on growth of young adult C3H mice

The effect of two different commercial chow-type diets on body weight and adipose tissue growth of young adult male C3H mice was investigated. Mice, 6 weeks old, were fed Purina Rodent Chow (#5001) (5% fat by weight) for 10 weeks. At 16 weeks of age half the mice were switched to Purina Mouse Chow (#5015) (11% fat by weight) while the other half were maintained on the original diet. After an additional 10 weeks, the mice were killed. Body weight and epididymal and retroperitoneal fat pad weights were significantly increased in the mice fed the diet with the higher fat content. The increased epididymal pad weight in the 11% fat group was due primarily to an increase in fat cell number. Lipoprotein lipase activity in the retroperitoneal pad was significantly increased by the 11% fat diet. These results indicate that a moderate increase in dietary fat in young adult mice can lead to an increase in fat cell number.