Model for predicting and phenotyping at normal weight the long-term propensity for obesity in Sprague–Dawley rats

Tests were conducted to determine whether weight gain or nutrient intake measures during the first week of exposure to a macronutrient diet can accurately predict an animal's long-term propensity towards obesity. In multiple groups of normal-weight Sprague–Dawley rats ( n = 35–70/group), daily weight gain during the first 5 days on a high-fat diet (45–60% fat) was found to be strongly, positively correlated ( r = + 0.71 to r = + 0.82) with accumulated body fat in 4 dissected depots after 4–6 weeks on the diet. This measure consistently identified obesity-prone (OP) rats which, relative to the obesity-resistant (OR) rats, were only slightly heavier (+ 15 g, 4%) and hyperphagic (+ 9 kcal, 8%) after 5 days but markedly heavier (+ 70 g) with up to 2-fold greater fat mass after several weeks on the diet. Other dietary conditions and measures revealed weaker relationships to ultimate body fat accrual. The OP rats identified by their 5-day weight-gain score exhibited at this early stage clear disturbances characteristic of markedly obese rats. These included elevated leptin, insulin, triglycerides and glucose, along with increased lipoprotein lipase activity (LPL) in adipose tissue and galanin expression in the paraventricular nucleus. Most notable were significant reductions in muscle of LPL activity and ratio of β-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase to citrate synthase activity, indicating a decline in lipid transport and capacity of muscle to metabolize lipids. By occurring early with initial weight gain, these hypothalamic and metabolic disturbances in OP rats, favoring fat storage in adipose tissue over fat oxidation in muscle, may have causal relationships to long-term accumulation of body fat.