DNA methylation profile for male SD rats treated with high fat diet (HFD) and DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) inhibitor 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5-AzaD) by RRBS

To investigate the effects of HFD on affecting the DNA methylation, as well as the methylation inhibitor 5-AzaD reversing such effects in the frontal cortex of male SD rats by sequencing the methylome (RRBS). Overall design: Male Sprague–Dawley (SD) rats of 11 weeks old were randomly assigned to (1) chow diet or HFD group, where they received the respective diet for 7 weeks. Among these, the HFD group was further split into (2) HFD only, (3) HFv (10 days i.p. injection of PBS vehicle in addition to high fat diet) and (4) In (10 days i.p. injection of 5-AzaD in PBS in addition to high fat diet). Thus, in total there were 4 groups in the study. At the end of study, the rats were sacrificed by decapitation. Frontal cortex were dissected out, flash frozen, and stored at -70°C for later transcriptome and DNA methylome sequencing experiments. All experiments were performed in accordance with the United States National Institutes of Health Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and were approved by the University of California at Los Angeles Chancellor's Animal Research Committee.