Cognitive impairment following high fat diet consumption is associated with brain inflammation - PubMed (original) (raw)

Cognitive impairment following high fat diet consumption is associated with brain inflammation

Paul J Pistell et al. J Neuroimmunol. 2010.

Abstract

C57Bl/6 mice were administered a high fat, Western diet (WD, 41% fat) or a very high fat lard diet (HFL, 60% fat), and evaluated for cognitive ability using the Stone T-maze and for biochemical markers of brain inflammation. WD consumption resulted in significantly increased body weight and astrocyte reactivity, but not impaired cognition, microglial reactivity, or heightened cytokine levels. HFL increased body weight, and impaired cognition, increased brain inflammation, and decreased BDNF. Collectively, these data suggest that while different diet formulations can increase body weight, the ability of high fat diets to disrupt cognition is linked to brain inflammation.

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Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1. Effects of WD on acquisition errors in the Stone T-maze

Male C57Bl/6 mice were exposed to Western diet (WD, open circles) or control diet (C-WD, closed circles) for 21 weeks, and the effects of diet on cognitive function were assessed by recording the number of errors committed over 15 trials of acquisition training. Data are means ± S.E.M. of average errors accrued over 3-trial blocks, with 8–10 individual mice per group. 2-way ANOVA revealed an overall significant main effect of trial on errors committed, but no significant effect of diet, and no interaction.

Figure 2

Figure 2. Effects of WD on cytokine and growth factor levels in mouse brain

Male C57Bl/6 mice were exposed to Western diet (WD) and control diet (C-WD) for 21 weeks, and the effects of diet on brain levels of the cytokine TNFα and IL-6, the chemokine MCP-1, and the growth factor BDNF were evaluated by ELISA as described in Methods. Data are means and SEM, with 8–10 individual mice per group, and statistical analyses (two-tailed, unpaired t-tests) indicated no significant effects of diet on cytokine, chemokine, or growth factor expression in the cortex.

Figure 3

Figure 3. Effects of WD on glial marker expression in mouse brain

Male C57Bl/6 mice were exposed to Western diet (WD) and control diet (C-WD) for 21 weeks, and the effects of diet on expression of the astrocyte marker GFAP and the microglia marker Iba-1 were measured by Western blot. Individual samples were compared to tubulin as loading controls, and 8–10 mice per group were evaluated. Representative blot images depict the ability of WD to increase GFAP, but not Iba-1, expression in mouse brain. Data are means and SEM, with 8–10 individual mice per group, and statistical analyses (two-tailed, unpaired t-tests) indicated a significant effect of WD on GFAP (* p < 0.05) levels in the cortex.

Figure 4

Figure 4. Effects of HFL on acquisition errors in the Stone T-maze

Male C57Bl/6 mice were exposed to a high fat lard diet (HFL, open circles) or control diet (C-WD, closed circles) for 19 weeks, and the effects of diet on cognitive function were assessed by recording the number of errors committed over 15 trials of acquisition training. Data are means ± S.E.M. of average errors accrued over 3-trial blocks. 2-way ANOVA revealed overall significant main effects of trial and of diet on errors committed, but no effects of diet, and no interaction. * indicates significant (p < 0.05) increases in errors accrued in HFL mice as compared to 24 month-old C-VHFD mice.

Figure 5

Figure 5. Effects of HFL on cytokine and growth factor levels in mouse brain

Male C57Bl/6 mice were exposed to high fat lard diet (HFL) and control diet (C-HFL) for 19 weeks, and the effects of diet on brain levels of the cytokine TNFα and IL-6, the chemokine MCP-1, and the growth factor BDNF were evaluated by ELISA as described in Methods. Data are means and SEM, with 8–10 individual mice per group, and statistical analyses (two-tailed, unpaired t-tests) indicated a significant effect of HFL on TNFα (p < 0.01), IL-6 (p < 0.01), MCP-1 (p < 0.001), and BDNF (p < 0.05) levels in the cortex.

Figure 6

Figure 6. Effects of HFL on glial marker expression in mouse brain

Male C57Bl/6 mice were exposed to high fat lard diet (HFL) and control diet (C-HFL) for 19 weeks, and the effects of diet on expression of the astrocyte marker GFAP and the microglia marker Iba-1 were measured by Western blot. Individual samples were compared to tubulin as loading controls, and 8–10 mice per group were evaluated. Representative blot images depict the ability of HFL to increase GFAP and Iba-1 expression in mouse brain. Data are means and SEM, with 8–10 individual mice per group, and statistical analyses (two-tailed, unpaired t-tests) indicated a significant effect of HFL on GFAP and Iba-1 (** p < 0.001; * p < 0.05, respectively) expression in the cortex.

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