Hepatic transcriptome response to high dietary cholesterol intake in pig NAFLD model

The mechanisms by which cholesterol promotes NAFLD remain far less clear. Animal models are necessary to explore the pathogenesis and therapies of NAFLD. Several previous studies have shown that pig breeds can differ in their metabolic phenotype in response to high-energy diet. To investigate whether genetic background has profound effects on pig NAFLD phenotype and their metabolic response to dietary cholesterol intake, we performed RNA-Seq on liver tissues from two miniature pig breeds fed either standard or a high-fat and high-cholesterol diet for 6 months. Overall design: Hepatic mRNA profiles of two miniature pig breeds fed either standard (SD) or a high-fat and high-cholesterol (HFC) diet were generated by deep sequencing, in triplicate, using Illumina HiSeq.