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Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a global epidemic, which involves a spectrum of metabolic disorders comprising diabetes and obesity. The impact of MetS on the brain is becoming to be a concern, however, the poor understanding of mechanisms involved has limited the development of therapeutic strategies. We induced a MetS-like condition by exposing mice to fructose feeding for 7 weeks. There was a dramatic deterioration in the capacity of the hippocampus to sustain synaptic plasticity in the forms of long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD). Mice exposed to fructose showed a reduction in the number of contact zones and the size of postsynaptic densities (PSDs) in the hippocampus, as well as a decrease in hippocampal neurogenesis. There was an increase in lipid peroxidation likely associated with a deficiency in plasma membrane excitability. Consistent with an overall hippocampal dysfunction, there was a subsequent decrease in hippocampal dependent learning and memory performance, i.e., spatial learning and episodic memory. Most of the pathological sequel of MetS in the brain was reversed three month after discontinue fructose feeding. These results are novel to show that MetS triggers a cascade of molecular events, which disrupt hippocampal functional plasticity, and specific aspects of learning and memory function. The overall information raises concerns about the risk imposed by excessive fructose consumption on the pathology of neurological disorders.

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Taller and stunted children had higher obesity risk than normal height for age children. This association did not change when controlling for the influence of perinatal data; post-natal influences may be playing an independent role. Although BW was linearly associated with obesity, short and premature babies also had a higher risk of obesity.

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En niños, la obesidad general y visceral se asocian con mayor riesgo cardiometabólico. El aumento en la prevalencia del síndrome metabólico (SM) en niños y adolescentes empeora el riesgo cardiovascular. Necesitamos contar con nuevos marcadores que permitan predecir el SM en niños. Objetivo: Comparar índice de masa corporal (zIMC) con razón cintura estatura (RCE) como predictores de SM en niños chilenos. Método: Estudio transversal en 618 escolares, edad 10.8± 1.9 años, 51.6 % mujeres, 190 eutróficos, 174 sobrepeso, 254 obesos, estrato socioeconómico medio y medio bajo, área urbana de Santiago. Determinamos peso, talla, circunferencia de cintura, presión arterial, perfil lipídico y glicemia. Diagnóstico de SM basado en la presencia de ≥ 3 criterios de Cook. El SM se modeló en función de RCE y z score IMC , con modelos de regresión logística. Se usaron curvas ROC para comparar RCE y zIMC como predictores de SM. Punto de corte según índice de YOUDEN.

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BackgroundGrowing evidence shows that metabolic syndrome (MetS) is already starting in childhood however there is no consensus regarding how to diagnose this condition in pediatric population. Studies in adults show that altered levels of specific micro-RNAs are related with components of the MetS.ObjectiveWe determined the plasma levels of four MetS-associated micro-RNAs (miR-126, miR-132, mir-145 and Let-7e) in 10 to 12 years old children with or without MetS traits.DesignPediatric subjects were selected from a cohort of 3325 school-age children, and clustered by the absence (control, n = 30), or the presence of 1 (n = 50), 2 (n = 41) or 3 (n = 35) MetS traits according to Cook´s criteria. Micro-RNAs were isolated from plasma, and levels of miR-126, miR-132, miR-145 and Let-7e were determined by Taqman qPCR.ResultsRegression analysis of the different MetS traits regarding the different miRNAs analyzed showed that Let-7e presented a negative association with HDL-C levels, but a positive correlation with the number of MetS traits. Levels of miR-126 presented a positive correlation with waist circumference, waist to hip ratio, BMI, and plasma triglycerides and VLDL-C. Levels of miR-132 showed a positive correlation with waist to hip ratio. Plasma levels of Let-7e were increased (~3.4 fold) in subjects with 3 MetS traits, and showed significant AUC (0.681; 95%CI = [0.58, 0.78]; p < 0.001) in the ROC analysis which were improved when miR-126 was included in the analysis (AUC 0.729; p < 0.001). In silico analysis of the interaction of proteins derived from mRNAs targeted by Let7 and miR-126 showed an important effect of both Let-7e and miR-126 regulating the insulin signaling pathway.ConclusionsThese results suggest that changes in the plasma levels of Let-7e and miR-126 could represent early markers of metabolic dysfunction in children with MetS traits.