Perinatal and adult western diet exposure alters hippocampal inflammatory and synaptic plasticity-related gene...

The present study investigated the effect of perinatal programming combined with exposure to a western diet on gene expression related to inflammation, neurodegeneration, and synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus of adult rats.

Male rats from mothers fed either a standard diet or a western diet during gestation and lactation were used. All pups received only the standard chow diet from the 25th postnatal day (PND), and their body weight was analysed. Rats from the two groups fed the maternal diet were then divided on the 195^th PND into four subgroups: two received the standard chow diet, and the others were exposed to the same western diet for two hours over 5 days. Gene expression and biochemical tests were performed on the 200^th PND.

Adult rats submitted to a western diet during pregnancy and lactation showed signs of metabolic programming. In addition, glucose and total protein were found to have increased in the serum. The effect of acute exposure to a western diet is increased cholesterol. The western diet decreased gene expression of inflammatory factors (Il-6, Tnf-α, Nf-κb) and Mapt in the hippocampus. However, the diet stimulation increased Il-6, Tnf-α, Bdnf gene expression and reduced Creb-1 and Trkb expression.

Acute exposure to a western diet in adulthood alters pre-translational pathways (Il-6, Tnf-α, Bdnf-Trkb-Creb-1) in the hippocampus of rats previously subjected to early-life western diet, indicating that perinatal programming and later dietary challenges interact to modulate hippocampal plasticity in a time- and diet stimulus-dependent manner.