amples were collected in tubes containing heparin. Plasma glucose and lipids fractions were measured by a spectrophotometric method adapted 15155536 on a Cobas Mira automatic analyser. Plasma immunoreactive insulin was estimated by the Phadebas insulin test. Rat insulin was used as standard. Materials and Methods Chemicals The culture medium RPMI 1640 and L-glutamine were purchased from Lonza 
Verviers SPRL. Fura2/AM was procured from Invitrogen. Elastase and dispase were purchased from Serlabo and Roche Diagnostics, respectively. Anti-CD36 antibody coupled to phycoerythrin and anti-agustducin antibody were procured from Santa Cruz Biotechnology Inc.. Anti-CD36 antibody, used for western blots, was procured from R & D. Sulfo-N-succinimidyl-oleate was a generous gift from JF Glatz. All other chemicals including linoleic acid, collagenase type-I, and trypsin inhibitor were obtained from Sigma Chemicals. Hepatic lipids assays Extraction of hepatic lipids was carried out according to Folch et al., as described elsewhere. Total lipids were measured gravimetrically. Total cholesterol and cholesterol fractions were evaluated by the kit as per instructions furnished with. Phospholipids were determined colorimetrically. Two-bottle preference test The experiments on the spontaneous preference for lipidenriched solutions were performed by means of two-bottle preference test. The animals first accustomed to water drinking in two bottles for a period of 24 hrs. The next day, the animals were subjected, during the diurnal period, to two bottles: one control and one test bottle, both containing 0.3% xanthan gum homogenized in water. In the test bottle, 1% of colza oil was added. The xanthan gum was used to emulsify the oil and to minimize textural cues between the two solutions. To avoid the development of side preferences, positions of the bottles were changed during each experiment. After 12 hours, consumption of each solution was analyzed by weighing the bottles and preference for the experimental solution was estimated by calculating the ratio between the consumption of the experimental solution and the total consumption. We also assessed whether obese gerbils exhibit an altered sweet preference by subjecting them, similarly, to two bottle-test: one with water and another with 4% sucrose. Animals and diet The rodents were trapped in the area of BeniAbbes in Algerian West Sahara and transported to Algiers. When the sand rats were captured, they were subjected to Pyrroloquinolinequinone disodium salt site acclimatization in the animal house from 15 to 30 days. The animals were maintained in suitable cages under controlled temperature and light conditions. The animals were identified for the sex. The age of male gerbils, used in our study, was approximatively from 2 to 3 months, based on the body weight. The weighing is the main selection criteria in most of the studies on these animals. The animals were weighed and, at the beginning of the experiments, their body weights were 7265 g. Each group consisted of 10 animals. The gerbils of control group were 12419798 maintained on Salsola foetida throughout the experimentation. The animals of obese group were progressively given the laboratory diet and, after a period of 4 weeks, they were completely maintained on it until the duration of the experimentation, i.e., 18 weeks. For control animals, we chose the desert plant Salsola foetida, a low caloric diet, as these animals feed this plant in their natural habitat and they do not develop obesity. As compared to the
