The research team created a strain of mice without the Plin2 gene which produces a protein that regulates fat storage and metabolism. They immediately found that the mice were resistant to obesity.
Usually, mice fed a high fat diet will eat voraciously, yet these showed an unusual restraint. Not only did they eat less, they were more active.
Their fat cells were also 20 percent smaller than typical mice and did not show the kind of inflammation usually associated with obesity, the study said. Obesity-associated fatty liver disease, common in obese humans and rodents, was absent in the mice without the Plin2 gene.
Neat! We feed mice in our lab high fat diet (its essentially Crisco) and they get VERY fat, have fatty livers, and generally are greasy and gross. Interesting that the mice are not only feeding less, but are more active.
h/t Mrs. Weer’d
