Elsevier

Neuroscience Letters

Volume 482, Issue 3, 4 October 2010, Pages 235-239
Neuroscience Letters

A high-fat diet impairs neurogenesis: Involvement of lipid peroxidation and brain-derived neurotrophic factor

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2010.07.046Get rights and content

Abstract

Obesity is a growing global health problem that contributes to diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, dementia, and cancer. The increased consumption of saturated fats in a high-fat diet (HFD) contributes to obesity, neurodegenerative diseases, long-term memory loss, and cognitive impairment. We tested whether HFD influences adult hippocampal neurogenesis. Male C57BL/6 mice were divided into two groups and maintained on either a normal diet (ND) or HFD. Seven weeks of HFD significantly decreased the numbers of newly generated cells in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus without neuronal loss. HFD also increased the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) and decreased the level of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the hippocampus. The toxic effects of MDA were evaluated on neural progenitor cells (NPCs). MDA reduced the growth of NPCs, but BDNF treatment restored NPCs proliferation. The present data indicate that a HFD impairs hippocampal neurogenesis and NPCs proliferation through increased lipid peroxidation and decreased BDNF.

Research highlights

▶ High-fat diet decreases neural progenitor cells proliferation and hippocampal neurogenesis. ▶ High-fat diet increases lipid peroxidation and decreases BDNF in hippocampus. ▶ BDNF protects neural progenitor cells proliferation against lipid peroxidation.

Section snippets

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program though the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology (no. 2009-0067079). The authors thank Dr. Cepko at Harvard University, USA for providing the C17.2 cells.

References (42)

  • E.Y. Snyder et al.

    Multipotent neural cell lines can engraft and participate in development of mouse cerebellum

    Cell

    (1992)
  • V. Solfrizzi et al.

    Dietary fatty acids intake: possible role in cognitive decline and dementia

    Exp. Gerontol.

    (2005)
  • C.L. White et al.

    Effects of high fat diet on Morris maze performance, oxidative stress, and inflammation in rats: contributions of maternal diet

    Neurobiol. Dis.

    (2009)
  • C. Zhao et al.

    Mechanisms and functional implications of adult neurogenesis

    Cell

    (2008)
  • R. Blum et al.

    Neurotrophin-mediated rapid signaling in the central nervous system: mechanisms and functions

    Physiology (Bethesda)

    (2005)
  • H.A. Cameron et al.

    Restoring production of hippocampal neurons in old age

    Nat. Neurosci.

    (1999)
  • L. Cao et al.

    VEGF links hippocampal activity with neurogenesis, learning and memory

    Nat. Genet.

    (2004)
  • I.K. Hwang et al.

    Comparative study on high fat diet-induced 4-hydroxy-2E-nonenal adducts in the hippocampal CA1 region of C57BL/6N and C3H/HeN mice

    Neurochem. Res.

    (2009)
  • G. Kempermann et al.

    More hippocampal neurons in adult mice living in an enriched environment

    Nature

    (1997)
  • S.G. Kernie et al.

    BDNF regulates eating behavior and locomotor activity in mice

    EMBO J.

    (2000)
  • H.G. Kuhn et al.

    Neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus of the adult rat: age-related decrease of neuronal progenitor proliferation

    J. Neurosci.

    (1996)
  • Cited by (0)

    View full text