High Caloric Diet Induces Memory Impairment and Disrupts Synaptic Plasticity in Aged Rats.

ABSTRACT: The increasing consumption of sugar and fat seen over the last decades and the consequent overweight and obesity, were recently linked with a deleterious effect on cognition and synaptic function. A major question, which remains to be clarified, is whether obesity in the elderly is an additional risk factor for cognitive impairment. We aimed at unravelling the impact of a chronic high caloric diet (HCD) on memory performance and synaptic plasticity in aged rats. Male rats were kept on an HCD or a standard diet (control) from 1 to 24 months of age. The results showed that under an HCD, aged rats were obese and displayed significant long-term recognition memory impairment when compared to age-matched controls. Ex vivo synaptic plasticity recorded from hippocampal slices from HCD-fed aged rat

SUBMITTER: Paulo SL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8929079 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature