As shown in Figure 1, after 8 weeks of HFD feeding, livers from WT mice showed micro- and macro-vesicular fat accumulation. In contrast, livers from Nrf2-null mice were more sensitive to HFD feeding than WT mice with evidence of greater macrovesicular fat accumulation. In addition, the Oil Red O staining mice liver sections showed that fat accumulated much more in HFD-Nrf2-null mice hepatocytes than HFD-WT mice. In the liver of CD-Nrf2-null mice, there was slight hepatocellular fat accumulation. However, there is no evidence of fat accumulation in the CD-WT mice liver. In addition, data in Wang X. et al., (2016) also gives evidence of FA accumulation in the liver of HFD fed mice. Nrf2 deficiency improved the hepatic FA accumulation induced by HFD, especially the 18-carbon FA. As the predominant components of hepatic FA, 18-carbon FA accumulated significantly in HFD fed mice liver of both genotypes (WT and Nrf2-null mice).
