Mitochondrial adaptation in steatotic mice.

Western lifestyle-associated malnutrition causes steatosis that may progress to liver inflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction has been suggested as a key factor in promoting this disease. Here we have molecularly, biochemically and biophysically analyzed mitochondria from steatotic wild type and immune-compromised mice fed a Western diet (WD) - enriched in saturated fatty acids (SFAs). WD-mitochondria demonstrated lipidomic changes, a decreased mitochondrial ATP production capacity and a significant sensitivity to calcium. These changes preceded hepatocyte damage and were not associated with enhanced ROS production. Thus, WD-mitochondria do not promote steatohepatitis per se, but demonstrate bioenergetic deficits and increased sensitivity to stress signals.

Data on chow, liver tissue and mitochondrial fatty acid compositions as well as mitochondrial proteome changes after feeding mice a western diet for 6-24 weeks.

The data presented in this article describe the fatty acid composition of chow, liver tissue and isolated liver mitochondria from mice fed for 6-24 weeks with a high caloric western diet (WD) in comparison to control diet (normal diet, ND). The fatty acid composition was measured via gas chromatography flame ionization detection (GC-FID). Moreover, WD-induced mitochondrial protein changes are presented in this work and were analyzed by mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). For further interpretation and discussion of the presented data please refer to the research article entitled "Mitochondrial adaptation in steatotic mice" (Einer et al., 2017) [1].