BFM has been selected for high fatness and low protein content from a base population of animals bought in several Berlin pet shops. BFMI860 is an inbred derivate of BFM that has been generated by repeated matings of most obese BFM full-sibs after 58 generations of selection. BFM and BFMI860 develop extreme body weight with high body fat mass, but only marginal increased body lean mass. The phenotype is visible already at a very early age. Highest weight gain occurs between 6 and 10 weeks. At standard diet, the adult animals of the BFMI860 strain had a body fat percentage of 22 to 30% in males and 28 to 37% in females compared to 6% in wildtype mice. The animals respond to high fat diet with further increase of adiposity. BFMI860 mice show several features of the metabolic syndrome. Consistent with the high genetic variability, BFM animals have a higher variability in the fat percentage and related phenotypes than BFMI860.
Origin
The development was made by the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
