Genetic background and diet induce hepatic gene expression of different regulatory pathways associated with obesity in the Collaborative Cross

In this study, we used 123 Collaborative Cross female mice fed either a high protein (HP) or high fat high sucrose (HS) diet to perform differential gene expression and analyses in the liver. We also determined the correlation of liver gene expression levels with phenotypic data of adiposity and obesity-related traits. Overall design: Female mice from 22 CC strains were obtained from University of North Carolina’s CC Mouse Core at 6-9 weeks of age. Mice were then acclimated for 2 weeks on a synthetic diet, housed 3 mice per cage. Then, mice were put on experimental diets, randomized into different cages by experimental diet, and housed 3-5 mice per cage. Mice were challenged on their respective diets for 8 full weeks and sacrificed the following week after a 4-hour fast and anesthetization to obtain liver samples for microarray analysis. Microarray data were available for 127 samples.