Effects of high fat diet on blood lipids and liver enzymes in murine model: the systemic and experimental study

Background: A high fat diet is associated various metabolic disorders, including fatty liver disease and dyslipidemia. This work is aimed to examine effects of excess lard usage from diet on blood lipids and liver enzymes in murine models in the aspects of genetics and food types. Methods: A systematic review was conducted to form a general picture of the effects of high fat diet (HFD) on blood lipid and liver enzyme profiles of mice and compare these indices between study designs. At the same time, 24 Swiss albino mice were included in an experimental study, two groups with different diets (HFD and standard diet - STD) in 18 weeks to examine serum levels of liver enzymes and blood lipids. Results: Our results in the systematic review indicate that HFD from lard increased TG, TC, LDL-C, ALT indexes in the majority of studies. C57BL/6 strain was used the most as well as being seen as the best results in these studies. In addition, the most popular types of HFD used in these results were HFD 60 % and HFD 45 %. They also showed the most appropriate results, in which those related to HFD 60 % had lower dispersion than those of HFD 40 %. The change in blood lipids and serum liver enzymes due to HFD from lard also varied among studies using the same strain as well as different strains, especially that of HDL-C and AST. Our experiment on Swiss mice confirmed these results. After 18 weeks eating HFD, mice gained weight and accumulated white fat. All four indices of blood lipids including TC, TG, HDL-C and LDL-C of HFD group were significantly higher than STD group, with 15.90 %, 28.49 %, 20.12 % and 41.79 %, respectively. Although AST level did not show a difference between two groups, HFD leads to a 1.29-fold-increase in ALT level in mice. Conclusion: In conclusion, both our systematic and experimental results indicate that HFD can increase blood lipids and liver enzymes in mice, and systematic analysis suggests that dyslipidemia and detrimental effects on the liver by HFD are depending on the animal genetics and types of diet.