Effects of undernutrition and obesity on neurodevelopment and metabolism

BARRIOS C; DEPINO AM; ELIA EM

Congreso; Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias 2023 Meeting.; 2023

Malnutrition compromise both, undernutrition, and overweight/obesity, wich arewidely known and there are several animal models that represent both of imbalance. Also, athird type of imbalance, called ?doble burden of malnutrition? (DBM), refers to the coexistenceof two forms of malnutrition in a population or even within an individual. The DBM presentsunique challenges for public health, as it can result in short and long-term health impairment,such as increased risk of chronic diseases, metabolic problems, and eating disorders. To datethere is no animal model that recapitulates DBM, its effects on metabolism and itsconsequences on neurodevelopment.Keeping this in mind, we set up two models, one for obesity by cafeteria diet and onefor undernutrition by maternal separation of 8hs from P5 to P21. For modeling BDM, wecombined both.Male mice that were separated from their mothers presented reduced socialbehaviors. On the other hand, females mice presented increased depressive-like behaviors.Both male and female presented reduced weight at weaning.After 14 weeks of cafeteria diet we observed an increase in body weight, as well as anincrease in levels of glucose and cholesterol, two metabolites associated with metabolicsyndrome, and no differences in triglyceride levels. Another finding was a decrease inlocomotion in several behavioral tests such as open field, Y maze and light/dark test and adecrease in depressive-like behaviors in the force swimming test