Genetically-obese Animals

Acute, sub-chronic or chronic feeding studies can be performed in any commercially available genetically-obese rodents including ob/ob mice, db/db mice or Zucker fa/fa rats. These animals are either leptin-deficient (ob/ob mice) or have defective leptin receptors (db/db mice and fa/fa rats). These animal models are monogenic ie the obesity is due to the mutation of a single gene. Similar single gene mutations have been linked to obesity in man but such instances are extremely rare therefore dietary-induced obese animal models more closely mimic common human obesity than genetically-obese animals. These models can provide additional information regarding the antiobesity potential of novel drugs but are no longer used as primary screens to measure the effects of drugs on body weight.