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HISTOLOGICAL PRESENTATION OF WHITE ADIPOSE TISSUE FOLLOWING TYPICAL AMERICAN DIET OR MEDITERRANEAN DIET CONSUMPTION IN C57BL/6J MICE
Gabriel, Sara
Gabriel, Sara
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2025-12-18
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Abstract
Diet quality, rather than total macronutrient content, is increasingly recognized as a major determinant of metabolic health. This study investigated how long-term consumption of a macronutrient-matched Typical American Diet (TAD) versus Mediterranean Diet (MED/MD) influences body weight, white adipose tissue (WAT) mass, and adipocyte morphology in male and female C57BL/6J mice. Although both diets provided identical percentages of carbohydrate, protein, and fat, their nutrient sources were where the difference lay. Across six months, males on the TAD gained significantly more weight than males on the MD or chow diets, while females showed no diet-related differences, highlighting a sex-specific metabolic vulnerability (Velázquez et al., 2019). WAT weight exhibited a significant diet versus sex interaction, and follow-up analyses revealed that TAD animals of both sexes had greater adipose mass than MD or chow groups. Histological imaging further demonstrated distinct remodeling patterns: TAD mice displayed enlarged adipocytes with stretched borders and fewer small adipocytes, features consistent with hypertrophic expansion, while MD mice showed smaller, more uniformly distributed adipocytes indicative of healthier tissue architecture (Pérez-Martínez et al., 2011). Together, these findings show that diets high in saturated fats and refined carbohydrates promote metabolically unfavorable adipose remodeling, while MD fat sources support more protective adipocyte profiles even when total fat intake is identical (Briggs et al., 2017; Ragino et al., 2020). These results emphasize that nutrient quality plays a critical role in shaping adipose structure and metabolic risk and provide a foundation for future work examining depot-specific remodeling, inflammatory signaling, and the potential for MD-based dietary interventions to reverse TAD-induced adipose dysfunction.