AUTHORS: Lizarbe B, Cherix A, Duarte J, Cardinaux J, Gruetter R

International Journal of Obesity, 43(6): 1295-1304, June 2019

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES:

High-fat diet consumption is known to trigger an inflammatory response in the hypothalamus, which has been characterized by an initial expression of pro-inflammatory genes followed by hypothalamic astrocytosis, microgliosis, and the appearance of neuronal injury markers. The specific effects of high-fat diet on hypothalamic energy metabolism and neurotransmission are however not yet known and have not been investigated before.

SUBJECTS/METHODS:

We used 1H and 13C magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and immunofluorescence techniques to evaluate in vivo the consequences of high-saturated fat diet administration to mice, and explored the effects on hypothalamic metabolism in three mouse cohorts at different time points for up to 4 months.

RESULTS:

We found that high-fat diet increases significantly the hypothalamic levels of glucose (P < 0.001), osmolytes (P < 0.001), and neurotransmitters (P < 0.05) from 2 months of diet, and alters the rates of metabolic (P < 0.05) and neurotransmission fluxes (P < 0.001), and the contribution of non-glycolytic substrates to hypothalamic metabolism (P < 0.05) after 10 weeks of high-fat feeding.

CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION:

We report changes that reveal a high-fat diet-induced alteration of hypothalamic metabolism and neurotransmission that is quantifiable by 1H and 13C MRS in vivo, and present the first evidence of the extension of the inflammation pathology to a localized metabolic imbalance.

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