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Evolution and obesity: resistance of obese-prone rats to a challenge of food restriction and wheel running

International Journal of Obesity volume 34, pages 589–592 (2010)Cite this article

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A Corrigendum to this article was published on 15 November 2010

Abstract

The adaptive hypothesis that an obese-prone genotype confers a fitness advantage when challenged with food restriction and food-related locomotion was tested using a rat model. Juvenile (35–40 days) and adolescent (45–50 days) JCR:LA-cp rats, obese prone (cp/cp) and lean prone (+/?), were exposed to 1.5 h daily meals and 22.5 h of voluntary wheel running, a procedure that normally leads to self-starvation. Genotype had a dramatic effect on survival of rats when exposed to the challenge of food restriction and wheel running. Although similar in initial body weight, obese-prone juveniles survived twice as long, and ran three times as far, as their lean-prone counterparts. Biochemical measures indicated that young obese-prone animals maintained blood glucose and fat mass, whereas lean-prone rats depleted these energy reserves. Corticosterone concentration indicated that obese-prone juveniles exhibited a lower stress response to the survival challenge than lean-prone rats, possibly due to lower energy demands and greater energy reserves. Collectively, the findings support the hypothesis that an obese-prone genotype provides a fitness advantage when food supply is inadequate, but is deleterious during periods of food surfeit, such as the energy-rich food environment of prosperous and developing societies worldwide.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded in part by National Sciences and Engineering Research to Council of Canada (NSERC) grants to Dr Pierce, Dr Heth and Dr Proctor as well as the Alberta Livestock Industry Development Fund (ALIDF) to Dr Proctor. Dr Proctor is supported by a New Investigator Salary Award from HSFC. None of the authors received financial remuneration from these grants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    W D Pierce

  2. Alberta Institute of Human Nutrition, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    A Diane, J C Russell & S D Proctor

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    C D Heth

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  1. W D Pierce
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  2. A Diane
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  3. C D Heth
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  4. J C Russell
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Correspondence to W D Pierce.

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Pierce, W., Diane, A., Heth, C. et al. Evolution and obesity: resistance of obese-prone rats to a challenge of food restriction and wheel running. Int J Obes 34, 589–592 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2009.294

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