The loss of hepatic PPARα in mice causes hypertension and cardiovascular disease

The leading cause of death in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, the mechanisms are unknown. Mice deficient in hepatocyte PPARα ( PparaHepKO) exhibit hepatic steatosis on a regular diet, making them prone to manifesting NAFLD. We hypothesized that the PparaHepKO mice might be predisposed to poorer cardiovascular phenotypes due to increased liver fat content. We use PparaHepKO and littermate control mice fed a regular chow diet to avoid complications with a high-fat diet, such as insulin resistance and increased adiposity. After 30 weeks on a standard diet, male PparaHepKO mice exhibited elevated hepatic fat content compared to littermates as measured by Echo MRI (11.95 ± 1.4 vs. 3.74 ± 1.4%, pHepKO mice also displayed elevated mean arterial blood pressure (121 ± 4 vs. 108 ± 2 mmHg, p