To induce diet-induced obesity (DIO) in rodents, diets high in saturated fat and/or carbohydrates are commonly used. In the laboratory, standardized diets evolved over time without having paid particular attention to the effect of fat composition on metabolic alterations. In the present study, customized high-fat diets (HFDs) enriched in a combination of lard and different concentrations of New Zealand green-lipped mussel (Perna canaliculus) oil or Hoki (Macruronus novaezelandiae, blue grenadier) liver oil, important sources of ω3-polyunsaturated fatty acids, in comparison to a solely lard based diet were fed to lean and DIO male C57BL/6 mice and their effects on metabolic parameters were monitored. Intriguingly, an isocaloric HFD containing 63% of the total fat in the form of mussel oil and only 28% in the form of lard, attenuated the HFD-induced body weight gain after 1 and 4 weeks, respectively. Consistently, changing a lard enriched HFD to the mussel oil diet reduced body weight markedly even after mice had been exposed to the former diet for 10 months. The weight-reducing effect of the diet was not caused by altered energy intake or expenditure but was associated with reduced visceral fat mass. Collectively, these data suggest a novel weight-reducing potential of green-lipped mussel oil.
The importance of fatty acids (FAs) for healthy brain development and function has become more evident in the past decades. However, most studies focus on the hypothalamus as an important FA‐sensing brain region involved in energy homeostasis. Less work has been done to evaluate the effects of FAs on brain regions such as the hippocampus or cortex, two important centres of learning, memory formation, and cognition. Furthermore, the mechanisms of how FAs modulate the neuronal development and function are incompletely understood. Therefore, this study examined the effects of the saturated FA palmitic acid (PA) and the polyunsaturated FA docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) on primary hippocampal and cortical cultures isolated from P0/P1 Sprague Dawley rat pups. Exposure to PA, but not DHA, resulted in severe morphological changes in primary neurons such as cell body swelling, axonal and dendritic blebbing, and a reduction in synaptic innervation, compromising healthy cell function and excitability. Pharmacological assessment revealed that the PA‐mediated alterations were caused by overactivation of neuronal insulin signaling, demonstrated by insulin stimulation and phosphoinositide 3‐kinase inhibition. Remarkably, co‐exposure to DHA prevented all PA‐induced morphological changes. This work provides new insights into how FAs can affect the cytoskeletal rearrangements and neuronal function via modulation of insulin signaling.
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