INFLUENCE OF CHRONIC MILD STRESS IN METABOLIC AND BEHAVIOURAL ALTERATIONS INDUCED BY A HIGH FAT DIET INVOLVEMENT OF NEUROTROPHINS AND CITOKINESS

PROCHNIK ANDRÉS; GONZÁLEZ MURANO MARÍA ROSA; BURGUEÑO ADRIANA LAURA; WALD MIRIAM RUTH; GENARO ANA MARÍA

Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires

Congreso; XLIXReunión Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Farmacología Experimental; 2017

SAIC-SAFE-SAIB-SAI-SAA-SAB-SAFIS-SAP-SAB-SAH

INFLUENCE OF CHRONIC MILD STRESS IN METABOLIC AND BEHAVIOURALALTERATIONS INDUCED BY A HIGH FAT DIET. INVOLVEMENT OF NEUROTROPHINS ANDCYTOKINES. Nowadays obesityhas become a worldwide disease affecting millions of people. Clinical studieshave shown an association between cognitive impairment and obesity, marking itas a risk factor for dementia development, such as Alzheimer?s disease. In aprevious study we?ve gathered evidence showing that in C57BL/6J mice, a highfat diet (HFD) decreases learning and memory capacity, and desregulates sugarmetabolism. Chronic Mild Stress (CMS) enhanced the metabolic desregulation whilecausing anxious-like behaviour.The objective of this study is to analize therole of neurotrophin and cytokines expression in behavioural alterations andtheir potential use as conductual disfunction markers. For this purpose onemonth old male C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided in two groups receivingeither HFD (35% fat w/w) or standard diet (SD, 5% fat w/w) during 6 months. Twomonths after starting the diet, mice under HFD were randomly subdivided: Onegroup received CMS and the other served as control.  Cytokines and neurotrophins mRNA levels weredetermined in hippocampus and spleen by real-time RT-PCR, using GAPDH ashousekeeper. In spleen, HFD+CMS increased both IL4 and IL10 mRNA levels(p<0.05 vs SD) while HFD and HFD+CMS lowered BDNF expression (p<0.05 vsSD). In hippocampus BDNF levels diminished non-significantly with HFD andHFD+CMS (p=0.18). Furthermore, we found a positive correlation between discriminationindex and BDNF mRNA levels in both hippocampus (coefficient=0.52) and spleen(coefficient=0.62). No relevant correlations were found between neurotrophinsor cytokines levels and anxious-like behaviour. In conclusion, neurotrophin andcytokine participate in behavioural alterations induced by HFD and/or HFD+CMS.In particular BDNF mRNA levels, both peripherical and central, correlated withcognitive performance. These findings suggest that BDNF expression in spleencould be a potential marker of cognitive deficit in obesity.Keywords:High Fat Diet, Chronic Mild Stress, Behaviour; Cytokines, Neurotrophins