TY - JOUR

T1 - A long‐term energy‐rich diet increases prefrontal bdnf in sprague‐dawley rats

AU - Virtuoso, Alessandro

AU - Tveden‐nyborg, Pernille

AU - Schou‐pedersen, Anne Marie Voigt

AU - Lykkesfeldt, Jens

AU - Müller, Heidi Kaastrup

AU - Elfving, Betina

AU - Sørensen, Dorte Bratbo

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Findings of the effect of high‐fat feeding including “Cafeteria Diets” (CAF) on brain‐de-rived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the hippocampus (HIP) and prefrontal cortex (PFC) in rodents are conflicting. CAF is a non‐standardized, highly palatable energy‐rich diet composed by everyday food items for human consumption and is known to induce metabolic syndrome and obesity in rats. However, the highly palatable nature of CAF may counteract a negative effect of chronic stress on anticipatory behavior and synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus, hence represent a confounding factor (e.g., when evaluating functional effects on the brain). This study investigated the effects of a chronic, restricted access to CAF on BDNF, monoamine neurotransmitters, and redox imbalance in HIP and PFC in male rats. Our results show that CAF induced BDNF and its receptor TrkB in PFC compared to the controls (p < 0.0005). No differences in monoamine neurotransmitters were detected in either PFC or HIP. CAF increased dehydroascorbic acid and decreased malondialdehyde in PFC (p < 0.05), suggesting an early redox imbalance insufficient to induce lipid peroxidation. This study supports that a chronic CAF on a restricted schedule increases BDNF levels in the PFC of rats, highlighting that this may be a suboptimal feeding regime when investigating the effects of diet-induced obesity in the brain and emphasizing this as a point of attention when comparing the findings.

AB - Findings of the effect of high‐fat feeding including “Cafeteria Diets” (CAF) on brain‐de-rived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the hippocampus (HIP) and prefrontal cortex (PFC) in rodents are conflicting. CAF is a non‐standardized, highly palatable energy‐rich diet composed by everyday food items for human consumption and is known to induce metabolic syndrome and obesity in rats. However, the highly palatable nature of CAF may counteract a negative effect of chronic stress on anticipatory behavior and synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus, hence represent a confounding factor (e.g., when evaluating functional effects on the brain). This study investigated the effects of a chronic, restricted access to CAF on BDNF, monoamine neurotransmitters, and redox imbalance in HIP and PFC in male rats. Our results show that CAF induced BDNF and its receptor TrkB in PFC compared to the controls (p < 0.0005). No differences in monoamine neurotransmitters were detected in either PFC or HIP. CAF increased dehydroascorbic acid and decreased malondialdehyde in PFC (p < 0.05), suggesting an early redox imbalance insufficient to induce lipid peroxidation. This study supports that a chronic CAF on a restricted schedule increases BDNF levels in the PFC of rats, highlighting that this may be a suboptimal feeding regime when investigating the effects of diet-induced obesity in the brain and emphasizing this as a point of attention when comparing the findings.

KW - BDNF

KW - Cafeteria Diet

KW - Diet‐induced obesity

KW - Experimental animal models

U2 - 10.3390/nu14010126

DO - 10.3390/nu14010126

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 35011001

AN - SCOPUS:85121754585

VL - 14

JO - Nutrients

JF - Nutrients

SN - 2072-6643

IS - 1

M1 - 126

ER -