Early life overfeeding impairs spatial memory performance by reducing microglial sensitivity to learning.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Obesity can lead to cognitive dysfunction including poor performance in memory tasks. However, poor memory is not seen in all obese humans and takes several months to develop in animal models, indicating the adult brain is relatively resistant to obesity's cognitive effects. We have seen that, in the rat, overfeeding for as little as 3 weeks in early life leads to lasting obesity and microglial priming in the hypothalamus. Here we hypothesized that microglial hyper-sensitivity in the neonatally overfed rats extends beyond the hypothalamus into memory-associated brain regions, resulting in cognitive deficits.

Methods

We tested this idea by manipulating Wistar rat litter sizes to suckle pups in litters of 4 (overfed) or 12 (control).

Results

Neonatally overfe

SUBMITTER: De Luca SN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4872342 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature