Plasticity of adipose tissue in response to fasting and refeeding in male mice

We first studied the effect of fasting and refeeding on body weight and fat mass of adult male mice (3-months-old). Fasting markedly reduced their body weights and the lost body mass was restored after 3 days of refeeding (Fig. 1a). It is worth noting that the speed of weight recovery was higher during the initial phase of refeeding (24 h) than during the latter stages (Fig. 1a). Food intake during 24 h of refeeding was much greater than at 48 and 72 h of refeeding (Fig. 1b), which suggested that the rapid increase of body weight might be attributed to hyperphagia at the initial phase of refeeding.

Alteration of body weight and fat mass in mature mice subjected to fasting and refeeding. 3-months-old mice were fasted for 24, 48 and 72 h (F24, F48 and F72) respectively, and then fed again for 12, 24, 48 and 72 h (R12, R24, R48 and R72), respectively, after 72 h of fasting. Body weights (a), food intakes (b) and tissue appearance (c) of inguinal white adipose tissue (ingWAT), epididymal WAT ((eWAT), mesenteric WAT (mWAT) and interscapular BAT (iBAT) of mice during different fasting and feeding conditions were detected. Weights of adipose tissues (ingWAT, eWAT, mWAT, iBAT) expressed as a percentage of body weight in adult mice (d-g) were also analyzed. All data are presented as the mean ± SEM. * p