Rats bred for low intrinsic aerobic exercise capacity link obesity with brain inflammation and reduced structural plasticity of the hippocampus
Publiceringsår
2021
Upphovspersoner
Mäkinen, Elina; Lensu, Sanna; Honkanen, Markus; Laitinen, Paavo; Wikgren, Jan; Koch, Lauren G.; Britton, Steven L.; Kainulainen, Heikki; Pekkala, Satu; Nokia, Miriam S.
Abstrakt
BACKGROUND Increasing evidence shows obesity and poor metabolic health are associated with cognitive deficits, but the mechanistic connections have yet to be resolved. We studied rats selectively bred for low and high intrinsic aerobic capacity in order to test the association between low physical fitness, a genetic predisposition for obesity, and brain health. We hypothesized that low-capacity runner (LCR) rats with concurrently greater levels of adiposity would have increased hippocampal inflammation and reduced plasticity compared to the more physically fit high-capacity runner (HCR) rats. METHODS We examined markers for inflammation and brain plasticity in the hippocampi of LCR rats and compared them to HCR rats. The effect of age was determined by studying the rats at a young age (8 weeks) and later in life (40 weeks). We used western blots and immunohistochemistry to quantify the expression of target proteins. RESULTS Our study showed that the number of adult-born new neurons in the hippocampus was significantly lower in LCR rats than it was in HCR rats already at a young age and that the difference became more pronounced with age. The expression of synaptic proteins was higher in young animals relative to older ones. Brain inflammation tended to be higher in LCR rats than it was in the HCR rats, and more prominent in older rats than in young ones. CONCLUSION Our study is the first to demonstrate that low intrinsic aerobic fitness that is associated with obesity and poor metabolic health is also linked with reduced hippocampal structural plasticity at a young age. Our results also suggest that inflammation of the brain could be one factor mediating the link between obesity and poor cognitive performance.
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Publikationstyp
Publikationsform
Artikel
Moderpublikationens typ
Tidning
Artikelstyp
En originalartikel
Målgrupp
VetenskapligKollegialt utvärderad
Kollegialt utvärderadUKM:s publikationstyp
A1 Originalartikel i en vetenskaplig tidskriftPublikationskanalens uppgifter
Journal
Förläggare
Volym
97
Sidor
250-259
ISSN
Publikationsforum
Publikationsforumsnivå
1
Öppen tillgång
Öppen tillgänglighet i förläggarens tjänst
Ja
Öppen tillgång till publikationskanalen
Delvis öppen publikationskanal
Parallellsparad
Ja
Övriga uppgifter
Vetenskapsområden
Neurovetenskaper; Gymnastik- och idrottsvetenskap
Nyckelord
[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Publiceringsland
Förenta staterna (USA)
Förlagets internationalitet
Internationell
Språk
engelska
Internationell sampublikation
Ja
Sampublikation med ett företag
Nej
DOI
10.1016/j.bbi.2021.06.017
Publikationen ingår i undervisnings- och kulturministeriets datainsamling
Ja