Fig 1.
CAC, continuous ad libitum chow; CAF, continuous ad libitum high fat; CD, continuous diet; ID, intermittent diet.
Fig 2.
Energy intake (A) and body weight (B) during the weight gain, loss and regain phases.
CAC, continuous ad libitum chow; CAF, continuous ad libitum high fat diet; CD, continuous diet; ID, intermittent diet. Data are means ± SEM of 3–10 mice per group as shown in Fig 1.
Table 1.
Energy intake, body weight and weight loss efficiency during the weight gain, loss or regain phases of the experiment.
Fig 3.
Body composition as determined by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry.
(A) Fat mass (g), (B) fat mass (% of body weight) and (C) lean mass (g) at the end of the weight loss and weight regain phases. CAC, continuous ad libitum chow; CAF, continuous ad libitum high fat diet; CD, continuous diet; ID, intermittent diet. Data are means ± SEM of 3–10 mice per group as shown in Fig 1. * P<0.05, ** P<0.01, *** P<0.001 versus CAC. §§ P<0.01, §§§ P<0.001 versus CAF.
Fig 4.
Body composition as determined by adipose tissue dissection.
White adipose tissue (WAT) and brown adipose tissue (BAT) depot masses are presented in absolute weights (g) and as a percent of body weight (%) at the end of the weight loss (A and B) and weight regain (C and D) phases. CAC, continuous ad libitum chow; CAF, continuous ad libitum high fat diet; CD, continuous diet; ID, intermittent diet; WATi, inguinal WAT; WATe, epididymal WAT; WATr, retroperitoneal WAT; WATm, mesenteric WAT; WATt, sum of the above 4 WAT depot masses. Data are means ± SEM of 3–10 mice per group as shown in Fig 1. * P<0.05, ** P<0.01, *** P<0.001 versus CAC. §§§ P<0.001 versus CAF.
Table 2.
Weight (g and as a % of body weight) of seminal vesicles and testes, and serum glucose and insulin levels, as well as insulin resistance index, at the end of the weight loss and weight regain phases of the experiment.
Fig 5.
Hypothalamic expression of regulators of energy balance at the end of the weight loss phase.
Whole hypothalamic blocks were used for the determination of (A) neuropeptide Y (NPY), (B) agouti related peptide (AgRP) and (C) proopiomelanocortin (POMC) mRNA expression levels by quantitative PCR. Values are expressed as fold-change in expression relative to that of the housekeeping gene, ribosomal protein L19 and as a percentage of CAC mice (open bars). CAC, continuous ad libitum chow; CAF, continuous ad libitum high fat diet; CD, continuous diet; ID, intermittent diet. Data are means ± SEM of 4 mice per group. * P<0.05, ** P<0.01 versus CAC. § P<0.05 versus CAF.