Early administration of high fat diet modified adipogenic programming and attenuated obesity‐related dysfunction in ZDSD rats

Adipogenesis protects against obesity‐related disorders through expansion of adipocyte number. However, fat cell recruitment occurs primarily in childhood and early adolescence. Thus, the aim of the current study was to determine how diet‐induced adipogenesis in early maturation modified the obesity phenotype in a novel preclinical rodent model. Male obese Zucker Diabetic Sprague Dawley (ZDSD) rats were fed either a high fat diet (HF) beginning at 63, 84, or 112 days post‐parturition or maintained on low fat chow (LF) until 18 weeks of age (i.e. 126 days). At termination, tissue and serum was collected and immediately frozen for biochemical and molecular analysis. Despite greater total body fat, ZDSD rats fed HF diet at 63 days exhibited a benign obesity phenotype characterized by improved glucose, lipid, and inflammatory profiles. Corresponding with this improved metabolic profile was an increase in adipocyte density and a reduction in transcript abundance of the anti‐adipogenic canonical Wnt signaling pathway. From this study, we determined that early administration of HF diet protected against obesity‐related co‐morbidities in obese ZDSD rats. Moreover, these effects were mediated by inhibition of the canonical Wnt signaling and an increase adipocyte recruitment.