Fig. 4

Impact of low fat (LF)/high fat (HF) diets on mammary gland (MG) development in wild-type (WT), cortistatin (CORT)-knockout (KO) and somatostatin (SST)-KO mice. MG complexity (represented as the ductal branching by counting number of intersecting branches along a line between the leading edge of the ducts and the lymph node) and terminal end buds (TEBs) were determined in: a young virgin (8-week-old) WT, CORT-KO and SST-KO mice (n = 10–30/group); b adult WT, CORT-KO and SST-KO mice fed a LF or a HF diet for 12 weeks (n = 4–12/group); and c adult WT, CORT-KO and SST-KO mice (4–14/group) fed a LF or HF diet for 12 weeks and treated with 7, 12 dimethylbenz[α]anthracene (DMBA) at 20 weeks of age. Values represent mean ± standard error of the mean: *p <0.05, **p <0.01 for differences between groups analyzed by the Bonferroni or Mann–Whitney test. Right representative images of each experimental group by whole mount