Your environment defines you: The effects of environmental stimulation over the brain in an early obesity rat model

FABRE, NICOLÁS; CANESINI, GUILLERMINA; SCHUMACHER ROCÍO; STOKER, CORA; GAYDOU, LUISA; ANDREOLI, M. FLORENCIA; RAMOS, JORGE GUILLERMO; ROSSETTI, M. FLORENCIA

Congreso; CONGRESO SAN 2020; 2020

SOCIEDAD ARGENTINA DE NEUROCIENCIAS

Early obesity has been related to changes in the normal structure and function of thebrain. Environmental stimulus can intensify or attenuate these changes. Weanalyzed the effects of an early obesity model, and the later exposure to an enrichedenvironment (EE), over metabolic parameters, mRNA expression of key brain genes,and cognitive performance. For that, litters of Wistar rats were kept unchanged(Normal Litter, NL) or reduced to 3/4 male pups (Small Litter; SL). At postnatal day21 (PND21), a group of NL and SL rats were sacrificed to evaluate short-termchanges. The remaining animals were divided into EE and standard environment(SE) conditions, and at PND90 they were tested in the Episodic-like memory (ELM)and Locomotion activity (LA) tests, and then sacrificed to evaluate medium-termchanges. CA1, CA3, and GD areas were isolated from the rat brain by micropunchtechnique, and gene expression of BDNF and VEGF was evaluated by Rt-qPCR. InPND21, SL showed an increase in adiposity and levels of glucose, cholesterol, andtriglycerides (p