Mechanisms
Six-month high-fat feeding of CETP-humanised male mice reveals a biphasic lipid response with insulin resistance preceding dyslipidemia, mirroring human ageing (Physiol Rep 2017)
Original title: Male apoE*3-Leiden.CETP mice on high-fat high-cholesterol diet exhibit a biphasic dyslipidemic response, mimicking the changes in plasma lipids observed through life in men
Because comprehensive longitudinal human metabolic data spanning decades are essentially unobtainable, the authors tested whether male apoE*3-Leiden.CETP mice, which have a humanised lipid profile from expressing human cholesteryl ester transfer protein, can model metabolic syndrome development in men. Mice were fed a high-fat high-cholesterol diet for 6 months, tracking body weight, food intake, plasma and liver lipids, hepatic transcriptome, VLDL-triglyceride production, and stable-isotope-measured hepatic lipogenesis, gluconeogenesis and sterol secretion. Key observations were high inter-individual variation, a largely unaffected hepatic transcriptome at 2, 3 and 6 months, a biphasic response curve in the main metabolic features over time, and maximum insulin resistance preceding dyslipidemia. The biphasic plasma triglyceride and total cholesterol response appeared to mimic that seen in men in cross-sectional studies, suggesting this model can help delineate the causes of metabolic derangements in metabolic syndrome.
Original abstract
Physiological adaptations resulting in the development of the metabolic syndrome in man occur over a time span of several decades. This combined with the prohibitive financial cost and ethical concerns to measure key metabolic parameters repeatedly in subjects for the major part of their life span makes that comprehensive longitudinal human data sets are virtually nonexistent. While experimental mice are often used, little is known whether this species is in fact an adequate model to better understand the mechanisms that drive the metabolic syndrome in man. We took up the challenge to study the response of male apoE*3-Leiden.CETP mice (with a humanized lipid profile) to a high-fat high-cholesterol diet for 6 months. Study parameters include body weight, food intake, plasma and liver lipids, hepatic transcriptome, VLDL - triglyceride production and importantly the use of stable isotopes to measure hepatic de novo lipogenesis, gluconeogenesis, and biliary/fecal sterol secretion to assess metabolic fluxes. The key observations include (1) high inter-individual variation; (2) a largely unaffected hepatic transcriptome at 2, 3, and 6 months; (3) a biphasic response curve of the main metabolic features over time; and (4) maximum insulin resistance preceding dyslipidemia. The biphasic response in plasma triglyceride and total cholesterol appears to mimic that of men in cross-sectional studies. Combined, these observations suggest that studies such as these can help to delineate the causes of metabolic derangements in patients suffering from metabolic syndrome.
Summary written by cetpinhibition.org from the published abstract; figures as published. Page updated 19 August 2026. Methods.