Abstract
Obesity is characterized by massive adipose tissue accumulation and is associated with psychiatric disorders and cognitive impairment in human and animal models. However, it is unclear whether high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity presents a risk of psychiatric disorders and cognitive impairment. To examine this question, we conducted systematic behavioral analyses in C57BL/6J mice (male, 8-week-old) fed an HFD for 7 weeks. C57BL/6J mice fed an HFD showed significantly increased body weight, hyperlocomotion in the open-field test (OFT) and Y-maze test (YMZT), and impaired sucrose preference in the sucrose consumption test, compared to mice fed a normal diet. Neither body weight nor body weight gain was associated with any of the behavioral traits we examined. Working memory, as assessed by the YMZT, and anxiety-like behavior, as assessed by the elevated plus maze test (EPMT), were significantly correlated with mice fed an HFD, although these behavioral traits did not affect the entire group. These results suggest that HFD-induced obesity does not induce neuropsychiatric symptoms in C57BL/6J mice. Rather, HFD improved working memory in C57BL/6J mice with less anxiety, indicating that an HFD might be beneficial under limited conditions. Correlation analysis of individual traits is a useful tool to determine those conditions.
Highlights
Obesity is a condition that is characterized by massive adipose tissue accumulation
Sucrose preference among high-fat diet (HFD) mice was significantly lower than in ND mice (Figure 1h, t = 4.539, df = 17, p < 0.001). These results suggest that an HFD affects body weight gain, hyperlocomotion, and anhedonia-like behavior
We found that an HFD is associated with increased hyperlocomotion/exploratory activity in the open-field test (OFT) and in the Y-maze test (YMZT), as well as with anhedonia-like behavior in the sucrose consumption test (SCT)
Summary
Obesity is a condition that is characterized by massive adipose tissue accumulation. This condition is generally caused by a complicated interplay between intrinsic and extrinsic variables, including genetic, epigenetic, and developmental factors, as well as low levels of physical activity, high levels of sedentariness, and access to inexpensive and high-calorie foods [1,2,3,4,5]. An HFD has shown to have a detrimental effect on operant learning [20,21,22]. Together, these findings indicate that an HFD induces abnormal psychiatric traits and cognitive impairment in rodents
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