Rat chromosome 8 confers protection against dyslipidemia caused by a high-fat/low-carbohydrate diet.
OBJECTIVE
Recent studies have highlighted the importance of gene by diet interactions in contributing to risk factors of metabolic syndrome. We used a consomic rat panel, in which a chromosome of the Brown Norway (BN) strain is introgressed onto the background of the Dahl salt-sentitive (SS) strain, to test the hypothesis that these animals will be useful for dissecting gene by diet interactions involved in metabolic syndrome.


METHODS
We placed the parental SS and BN strains on a low-fat/high-carbohydrate (LF) or high-fat/low-carbohydrate (HF) diet for 22 weeks and measured several indices of metabolic syndrome. We then investigated the effect of diet in eight consomic rat strains.


RESULTS
We show that the HF diet resulted in significantly increased levels of fasting plasma cholesterol and triglycerides in the SS strain, with no effect in the BN. Both strains responded to the HF diet with slight increases in body weight. SSBN8 was the only consomic strain that resembled that of the BN, with low levels of fasting cholesterol and triglycerides even on the HF diet.


CONCLUSIONS
These results indicate that BN chromosome 8 harbors a gene or genes that confer protection against dyslipidemia caused by the HF diet.
Medical College of Wisconsin, Department of Pediatrics, Human and Molecular Genetics Center, Milwaukee, WI 53226.
Leah C Solberg
LCS
Woods
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Department of Biological Sciences, Whitewater, WI 53190.
Brett C
BC
Woods
Beloit College, Department of Biology, Beloit, WI 53511.
Caroline M
CM
Leitschuh
Beloit College, Department of Biology, Beloit, WI 53511.
Sonia J
SJ
Laurie
Medical College of Wisconsin, Department of Pediatrics, Human and Molecular Genetics Center, Milwaukee, WI 53226.
Howard J
HJ
Jacob
D000818:Animals; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D050171:Dyslipidemias / Q000235:genetics / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats
D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates; D004041:Dietary Fats