Background and Aim:  The methionine choline‐deficient (MCD) diet leads to steatohepatitis in rodents. The aim of the present study was to investigate species, strain and sex differences in this nutritional model of non‐alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

Methods:  Male and female Wistar, Long–Evans and Sprague–Dawley rats, and C57/BL6 mice (n = 6 per group) were fed a MCD diet for 4 weeks. Control groups received an identical diet supplemented with choline bitartrate (0.2% w/w) and methionine (0.3% w/w). Liver pathology (steatosis and inflammation) and ultrastructure, liver lipid profile (total lipids, triglycerides, lipid peroxidation products), liver : body mass ratios and serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels were compared between these groups.

Results:  The MCD diet‐fed male rats developed greater steatosis (P < 0.001), had higher liver lipid content (P < 0.05) and had higher serum ALT levels (P < 0.005) than did female rats. Wistar rats (both sexes) had higher liver lipid levels (P < 0.05), serum ALT levels (P < 0.05), and liver mass : body mass ratios (P < 0.025) than did Long–Evans and Sprague–Dawley rats. In female groups, Wistar rats showed greater fatty change than did the other two strains (P < 0.05). All rats fed the MCD diet developed hepatic steatosis, but necrosis and inflammation were minor features and fibrosis was absent. Compared with Wistar rats, male C57/BL6 mice showed a marked increase in inflammatory foci (P < 0.001), end products of lipid peroxidation (free thiobarbituric acid reactive substances) (P < 0.005), and mitochondrial injury, while showing less steatosis (P < 0.005), lower hepatic triglyceride levels, (P < 0.005) and lower early lipid peroxidation products (conjugated dienes and lipid hydroperoxides; P < 0.005 and P < 0.01, respectively).

Conclusions:  The Wistar strain and the male sex are associated with the greatest degree of steatosis in rats subjected to the MCD diet. Of the groups studied, male C57/BL6 mice develop the most inflammation and necrosis, lipid peroxidation, and ultrastructural injury, and best approximate the histological features of NASH.