Dietary obesity reversibly induces synaptic stripping by microglia and impairs hippocampal plasticity.

ABSTRACT: Obesity increases risk of age-related cognitive decline and is accompanied by peripheral inflammation. Studies in rodent models of obesity have demonstrated that impaired hippocampal function correlates with microglial activation, but the possibility that neuron/microglia interactions might be perturbed in obesity has never been directly examined. The goal of this study was to determine whether high fat diet-induced obesity promotes synaptic stripping by microglia, and whether any potential changes might be reversible by a return to low-fat diet (LFD). Time course experiments revealed that hippocampal inflammatory cytokine induction and loss of synaptic protein expression were detectable after three months of HFD, therefore subsequent groups of mice were maintained on HFD for three months

SUBMITTER: Hao S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4679537 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature