*3.2. HFD Increased the Adipocyte Area in the SS Rats Regardless of Increased tPVAT Weight in Both Rats*

We measured the tPVAT weight and adipocyte area to evaluate the effect of the HFD on tPVAT characteristics. The HFD significantly increased fat deposits and tPVAT weight in both SS and SR rats (Figure 2A,B). H&E staining of tPVAT revealed that the HFD increased the adipocyte area in SS but not SR rats, whereas trichrome staining revealed that the HFD did not affect fibrosis (Figure 2C). Quantification of the adipocyte area supported this observation (Figure 2D).

**Figure 1.** The effects of a high-fat diet on systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), body weight, water intake, food intake, and calorie intake in Dahl salt-sensitive (SS) and salt-resistant (SR) rats. SS and SR rats were fed either a chow diet (CD, 8.6% fat) or a high-fat diet (HFD, 60% fat) for 12 weeks. (**A**) The HFD increased the SBP in SS rats but not in SR rats. (**B**) The HFD increased body weight gain in both the SS and SR rats. (**C**–**E**) Water intake, food intake, and calorie intake are shown. As food intake decreased in the HFD groups, there was no difference in calorie intake between the CD and HFD groups. Graph, mean ± SEM of 6 independent experiments. Two-way analysis of variance followed by Tukey's *post hoc* multiple comparisons test. \* *p* < 0.05 and \*\* *p* < 0.01 vs. the SS CD group. # *p* < 0.05 and ## *p* < 0.01 vs. the SR CD group. -, SS-CD; •, SS-HFD; , SR-CD; -, SR-HFD.
