Environmental enrichment ameliorates high-fat diet induced olfactory deficit and decrease of parvalbumin neurons in...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Metabolic Disorders
• Environmental Psychology

Background:

• High-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity is a growing global health issue.
• Childhood obesity can have lifelong effects on brain development and function.
• Environmental enrichment (EE) is known to benefit learning and memory.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effects of HFD on olfaction and olfactory bulb (OB) cellular organization in adolescent mice.
• To determine the impact of EE intervention on HFD-induced changes in adolescent mice.

Main Methods:

• Adolescent mice (3 weeks old) were fed HFD for 10 weeks.
• Olfactory sensitivity and memory were assessed behaviorally.
• Cellular changes in the olfactory bulb, specifically parvalbumin (PV) and calbindin (CB) interneurons, were analyzed neuroanatomically.

Main Results:

• HFD-fed mice showed reduced odor sensitivity and olfactory memory compared to controls.
• Environmental enrichment (EE) intervention rescued these behavioral deficits in HFD-fed mice.
• A decrease in parvalbumin (PV) interneurons was observed in the OB of HFD-fed mice, which was normalized by EE.

Conclusions:

• Parvalbumin (PV) interneurons are crucial in mediating HFD-induced olfactory deficits in adolescent mice.
• Environmental enrichment (EE) provides a protective effect against HFD-induced functional deficits in olfaction.
• Targeting PV interneurons may offer therapeutic strategies for metabolic and neurodevelopmental disorders.