Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Metabolic/Inflammatory Profile in Adolescents: Cellular Studies and Predictive Biomarkers.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and its lockdown restrictions changed people's lifestyles with potential negative impact on health. This longitudinal study aimed to assess the COVID-19 lockdown influence on the adherence to the Mediterranean Diet (MD) pattern and its effects on the metabolic inflammatory profile in a cohort of healthy adolescents. We analyzed anthropometric measurements, body composition, and MD adherence along with serum metabolic and inflammatory profile in 77 healthy adolescents from Southern Italy before and after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Additionally, we evaluated the biological properties of pre- and post-lockdown serum on human HepG2 and HuH-7 hepatic cells. We didn't observe any significant differences in anthropometric and body composition parameters as well as in MD adherence score in adolescents between pre- and post-lockdown COVID-19. Intriguingly, despite the metabolic profile of adolescents in post-lockdown was within the normal range, we evidenced increased levels of fasting glucose, triglycerides, Total Cholesterol and LDL along with a reduction in HDL, in post- compared to pre-lockdown adolescent serum. In addition, elevated levels of TNF-α, IL-1β and ferritin were found in post-lockdown adolescents when compared to their pre-lockdown counterparts. Consistent with biochemical parameters, were observed in HepG2 and HuH-7 cells treated with pooled serum from post- respect to pre-lockdown period enhanced lipid accumulation with altered mitochondrial functions and increased reactive oxygen species production. Receiver operator characteristic curve analysis identified Total C Cholesterol, LDL, HDL, TNF-α and ferritin as predictive serum markers for metabolic and inflammatory profiling after lockdown period. Our findings highlight that the COVID-19 lockdown, forcing sedentary behavior, had a negative impact on adolescents' metabolic and inflammatory profile which may result in long-term unhealth outcomes.