Rodent obesity models: An overview

Summary:

Animal obesity models differ widely in type and extent of obesity. They are either based on environmental factors (eg. high fat diet induced obesity), spontaneous mutants (i.e. ob/ob mice), genetically engineered animals (eg. mice with melanocortin receptor subtype-4 gene disruption (knock-out)) or mechanical intervention (eg. chemical lesion of the ventromedial hypothalamus). This article reviews available rodent models to study obesity and attempts to highlight the greatest utility for each model.

Key words:

Animal model - obesity - energy balance - bariatric research

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