The Effect of Rat Strain, Diet Composition and Feeding Period on the Development of a Nutritional Model of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Rats
2011
Abstract
The aim of this work was to establish and characterize a nutritional model (using a high-fat diet for 3 or 6 weeks) of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in male Wistar and Sprague-Dawley rats. Feeding with high fat diet induced small-droplet or mixed hepatic steatosis without focal inflammation and necrosis.
We observed changes in liver glutathione levels, malondialdehyde production and expression of UCP-2 mRNA, but not differences in serum biochemical parameters. The present study showed that male Wistar and Sprague-Dawley rats fed by high-fat diet developed comparable simple steatosis without signs of progression to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.