Fig 1.
Body weight (gain) of individually and socially housed mice.
(A) absolute body weight of adolescent mice. Groups did not differ in body weight at baseline (PN21; IND, n = 28, 11.5 ± 0.15; SOC, n = 30, 11.5 ± 0.12). Over the course of 3 weeks IND showed reduced body weight gain compared to SOC (p < 0.001). (B) Body weight gain during adulthood and either control diet (CTR) or western style diet (WSD) exposure. At baseline (PN42), absolute body weight of IND was lower than that of SOC (two-way ANOVA, main effect of housing condition: f (1,88) = 27.272, p < 0.001) while there were no differences between CTR and WSD exposed groups (IND-CTR, n = 27, 24.1 ± 0.27; IND-WSD, n = 24, 24.8 ± 0.30; SOC-CTR, n = 23, 26.2 ± 0.15; SOC-WSD, n = 20, 25.7 ± 0.36). Gained body weight between PN42 and PN126 was increased due to individual housing and WSD exposure (p < 0.001); Data are means ± SEM; a = significant (main) effect of housing (p < 0.05); b = significant main effect of diet (p < 0.05).
Fig 2.
Body composition of individually and socially housed mice.
(A) lean body mass %, (B) fat mass % and (C) femur length of adolescent (PN43) mice housed individually (IND, n = 28) and socially (SOC, n = 30); (D) lean body mass %, (E) fat mass % and (F) femur length of adult (PN126) mice housed individually or socially and exposed to either control diet (CTR) or western style diet (WSD) between PN42 and PN126 (IND CTR, n = 27; IND WSD, n = 24; SOC CTR, n = 21; SOC WSD, n = 20). Data are means ± SEM; a = significant (main) effect of housing (p < 0.05); b = significant main effect of diet (p < 0.05).
Table 1.
Absolute bodyweight, organ and tissue characteristics and plasma hormones of adolescent mice.
Table 2.
Absolute bodyweight, organ and tissue characteristics and plasma hormones of adult mice.
Fig 3.
Relative UCP1 mRNA expression of individually and socially housed mice.
Relative UCP1 expression in (A) interscapular BAT and (B) inguinal WAT of adolescent (PN43) mice housed individually (IND, n = 27) and socially (SOC, n = 29–30); (C) interscapular BAT and (D) inguinal WAT of adult (PN126) mice housed individually or socially and exposed to either control diet (CTR) or western style diet (WSD) between PN42 and PN126 (IND CTR, n = 27; IND WSD, n = 18–24; SOC CTR, n = 20–22; SOC WSD, n = 15–17). Data are means ± SEM; a = significant (main) effect of housing (p < 0.05); b = significant main effect of diet (p < 0.05).
Table 3.
Indirect calorimetry during adolescence.
Table 4.
Indirect calorimetry during adulthood.