High-fat diet intake induces depressive-like behavior in ovariectomized rats

Lee

BMC Complement Med Ther

et al. 2020

Background Depression is a serious and common psychiatric disorder generally affecting more women than men. A woman’s risk of developing depression increases steadily with age, and higher incidence is associated with the onset of menopause. Here we evaluated the antidepressant properties of Asparagus cochinchinensis (AC) extract and investigated its underlying mechanisms in a rat menopausal depression model. Methods To model this menopausal depression, we induced a menopause-like state in rats via ovariectomy and exposed them to chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) for 6 weeks, which promotes the development of depression-like symptoms. During the final 4 weeks of CUMS, rats were treated with either AC extract (1000 or 2000 mg/kg, PO), which has been reported to provide antidepressant effects, or with the tricyclic antidepressant imipramine (10 mg/kg, IP). Results We report that CUMS promotes depression-like behavior and significantly increases serum corticosterone and inflammatory cytokine levels in the serum of ovariectomized (OVX) rats. We also found that CUMS decreases the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and its primary receptor, tropomyosin receptor kinase B (TrkB), in OVX rats, and treatment with AC extract rescues both BDNF and TrkB expression levels. Conclusion These results suggest that AC extract exerts antidepressant effects, possibly via modulation of the BDNF-TrkB pathway, in a rat model of menopausal depression.

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ovariectomy is commonly used to model menopause in animals, as depletion of female gonadal hormones mimics estrogen depletion in menopausal women [ 9 , 10 ]. Others have reported that OVX rodents exhibit increased anxiety- and depression-like behaviors, which show improvement with estrogen replacement [ 11 , 12 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Asparagus cochinchinensis extract ameliorates menopausal depression in ovariectomized rats under chronic unpredictable mild stress

Lee

BMC Complement Med Ther

et al. 2020

“…: 2172030315/2016), through the guidelines of the Conselho Nacional de Controle de Experimentação Animal (CONCEA), Ministry of Science and Technology, Brazil. Detailed experimental procedures, body composition analyses and biochemical measurements adopted in the present study have been published previously 6 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Experimentally, rodent bilateral ovariectomy has been used as a useful model for the investigation of metabolic effects induced by the lack of oestrogen 4 , 5 . Our group has previously demonstrated that the intake of a lard-enriched high-fat diet by ovariectomized rats potentiated gains in body adiposity and induced metabolic alterations 6 . Saturated fat intake has been shown to induce a proinflammatory state mainly in visceral adipose tissue.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oestrogen replacement fails to fully revert ovariectomy-induced changes in adipose tissue monoglycerides, diglycerides and cholesteryl esters of rats fed a lard-enriched diet

Boldarine

Joyce

Pedroso

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

Menopause may be accompanied by abdominal obesity and inflammation, conditions accentuated by high-fat intake, especially of saturated fat (SFA)-rich diets. We investigated the consequences of high-SFA intake on the fatty acid (FA) profile of monoglycerides, diglycerides and cholesteryl esters from retroperitoneal white adipose tissue (RET) of rats with ovariectomy-induced menopause, and the effect of oestradiol replacement. Wistar rats were either ovariectomized (Ovx) or sham operated (Sham) and fed either standard chow (C) or lard-enriched diet (L) for 12 weeks. Half of the Ovx rats received 17β-oestradiol replacement (Ovx + E2). Body weight and food intake were measured weekly. RET neutral lipids were chromatographically separated and FAs analysed by gas chromatography. Ovariectomy alone increased body weight, feed efficiency, RET mass, leptin and insulin levels, leptin/adiponectin ratio, HOMA-IR and HOMA-β indexes. OvxC + E2 showed attenuation in nearly all blood markers. HOMA-β index was restored in OvxL + E2. OvxC showed significantly disturbed SFA and polyunsaturated FA (PUFA) profile in RET cholesteryl esters (CE). OvxC also showed increased monounsaturated FA (MUFA) in the monoglyceride diglyceride (Mono–Di) fraction. Similar changes were not observed in OvxL, although increased SFA and decreased PUFA was observed in Mono–Di. Overall, HRT was only partially able to revert changes induced by ovariectomy. There appears to be increased mobilization of essential FA in Ovx via CE, which is a dynamic lipid species. The same results were not found in Mono–Di, which are more inert. HRT may be helpful to preserve FA profile in visceral fat, but possibly not wholly sufficient in reverting the metabolic effects induced by menopause.

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

“…Consistent with this, a study done in female rats showed that metabolic disturbances induced by loss of estrogen due to ovariectomy (i.e., increase in weight gain, hyperleptinemia, glucose intolerance) were exacerbated by HFD. Induction of depressive-like behaviors accompanied metabolic deterioration in these rats indicating that HFD may increase vulnerability to development of depression in the absence of estrogen (Boldarine et al, 2019 ). It is important to recognize, however, that not all studies show that females are resistant to metabolic disturbances (White et al, 2019 ) and that sex as a biological variable in HFD-induced changes in metabolic function and depression or anxiety-like behavior remains to be fully elucidated.…”

Section: Behavioral and Physiological Outcomes By Diet Alcohol And mentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of High Fat Diet and Ethanol Consumption on Neurocircuitry Regulating Emotional Processing and Metabolic Function

Coker

Keller

Arnold

et al. 2021

The prevalence of psychiatry disorders such as anxiety and depression has steadily increased in recent years in the United States. This increased risk for anxiety and depression is associated with excess weight gain, which is often due to over-consumption of western diets that are typically high in fat, as well as with binge eating disorders, which often overlap with overweight and obesity outcomes. This finding suggests that diet, particularly diets high in fat, may have important consequences on the neurocircuitry regulating emotional processing as well as metabolic functions. Depression and anxiety disorders are also often comorbid with alcohol and substance use disorders. It is well-characterized that many of the neurocircuits that become dysregulated by overconsumption of high fat foods are also involved in drug and alcohol use disorders, suggesting overlapping central dysfunction may be involved. Emerging preclinical data suggest that high fat diets may be an important contributor to increased susceptibility of binge drug and ethanol intake in animal models, suggesting diet could be an important aspect in the etiology of substance use disorders. Neuroinflammation in pivotal brain regions modulating metabolic function, food intake, and binge-like behaviors, such as the hypothalamus, mesolimbic dopamine circuits, and amygdala, may be a critical link between diet, ethanol, metabolic dysfunction, and neuropsychiatric conditions. This brief review will provide an overview of behavioral and physiological changes elicited by both diets high in fat and ethanol consumption, as well as some of their potential effects on neurocircuitry regulating emotional processing and metabolic function.