Role of diet on intestinal metabolites and appetite control factors in SD rats

The present study aimed to investigate changes in the levels of metabolites and appetite control factors caused by different dietary interventions in Sprague Dawley (SD) rats. A total of 35 male SD rats were weaned and immediately randomly assigned to five groups. The control group was given ad libitum access to a normal chow diet, and the other groups received a high-fat diet (FAT group), high-sugar diet, high-fibre or high-protein diet (PRO group) for 4 weeks. The high-fat diet contributed to weight gain and adipose tissue formation, and affected lipid indexed. The FAT group had a higher body weight, Lee's index, adipose mass and glucose tolerance than all of the other groups. The opposite effect was observed in the PRO group. High-performance liquid chromatography revealed that short-chain fatty acid and amino acid formation were affected by the various diets. In addition, differences in the mRNA expression levels of leptin, ghrelin and associated receptors were determined in the gastrointestinal, adipose and hypothalamus tissues. The present study provides further evidence of the role of diet in obesity development and prevention. It also highlights the role of intestinal metabolites and appetite control factor expression in the pathogenesis of obesity in SD rats.