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academies
Brain Disorders and Therapeutics
Mental Heal th and Psychology
5th International Conference on
Joint Event
&
Journal of Brain and Neurology| Volume: 2
November 05-06, 2018 | Edinburgh, Scotland
High-fat diet induces hippocampal dysfunction: evidence of cognitive impairment, depressive like-
behavior and blood-brain barrier permeability
Gabriela Cristina de Paula
Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil
Excessive intake of saturated fat and refined sugar in
Western diets leads to weight gain, progression into obesity,
metabolic changes and increased riskof cardiovascular diseases.
Recent evidence suggests that the hippocampus may also be
particularly susceptible to disruption by dietary factors. The
consumption of a high saturated fat diet (HFD) is associatedwith
not only weight gain and metabolic/cardiovascular diseases,
but also with impaired hippocampal-dependent memory and
the emergence of hippocampal pathologies. There are also
gaps in knowledge about the neurophysiological mechanisms
underlying the effects of HFD on cognitive function. The goal of
the present research was to assess the effects of maintenance
on a HFD on hippocampal-dependent learning and memory
performance, patterns of emotionality, on the integrity of
blood-brain barrier (BBB) and neuroinflammation. For this
purpose, 40-day-old male Swiss mice were fed a HFD (60%
calories from fat) for 7, 14 and 28 consecutive days. Student
t-test was used to compare the difference between the control
group (Lean) and diet-induced obese (DIO) group. Cognition and
emotionality assays, as well as assessment of the BBB function
were performed after the experimental periods. Astrocyte
activation was assessed by GFAP immunohistochemistry. The
set of our results showed that even in a small period of diet
exposure, 7 days, DIO leads to spatial memory impairment
and depressive-like behavior, a condition that persisted
up to 28 days of obesity. These behavioral changes were
accompanied by the increase in BBB permeability at 7 days
after diet induction. In addition, we observed the astrocytic
activation in mice hippocampus after the 28-day period of diet
consumption, showing that the HFD causes behavioral and
BBB integrity alterations that culminate in neuroinflammation.
Speaker Biography
Gabriela Cristina de Paula holds a master’s degree in Neurosciences and is a PhD
student in the Graduate Program in Biochemistry at the Federal University of Santa
Catarina, Brazil. Her research line is based on the study of the consequences of high-
fat diets consumption in the Central Nervous System, focusing on brain areas more
affected by the cognitive damage observed in Alzheimer’s Disease.
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