Poster Presentation ANZOS-ASLM-ICCR 2019

Comparison of dietary and oral administration for a novel antioxidant supplement in mice fed high fat diet (#156)

Josephine Yu 1 , Virginie Lecomte 1 , Margaret J. Morris 1 , Chris A. Maloney 1
  1. School of Medical Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Kensington, NSW, Australia

Obesity is one of our most serious health concerns. Oxidative stress is thought to be a key mechanism contributing to the plethora of comorbidities associated with obesity. We developed a dietary micronutrient supplement targeting oxidative stress, provided as part of diet or as an oral bolus daily. Male C57Bl/6 mice were fed either control or high fat diet (HFD), and across separate studies HFD fed mice were provided a micronutrient supplement via diet: HFS, or oral bolus (in glucose solution): HFO, and subjected to an array of metabolic tests. Firstly, mice fed the supplement mixed in the diet exhibited significantly less weight gain compared to the HFD and HFO groups. These body weight differences were reflected in significantly less adiposity in HFS mice than the other two groups. No differences were observed in lean mass. Metabolic cage testing showed a diet effect on respiratory exchange ratio of all 3 HFD-fed groups whereby HFD fed mice utilized lipids as the primary energy source with no effect of the micronutrient intervention. Glucose tolerance test revealed significantly improved glucose clearance in HFS mice when compared to HFD mice, which was not observed in HFO mice. Collected fat pad mass also showed significant differences based on supplement administration route. Here, HFS mice had significantly smaller retroperitoneal and epididymal fat pads which were comparable to those fed a control diet, whereas HFO mice were similar to HFD-fed mice. No differences between the HFD-fed groups were observed on heart and liver weight. Plasma measures of oxidative stress and other markers of metabolic health are currently underway. Further investigation is required to better understand why adiposity and weight benefits were only observed in mice given the supplement within the diet. These results highlight the challenges inherent in designing translatable interventions to address metabolic disease.