A high-fat diet during pregnancy impairs memory acquisition and increases leptin receptor expression in the hippocampus of rat offspring

ABSTRACT

A high-fat diet (HFD) during pregnancy influences the neurodevelopment of progeny, particularly in the hippocampus, a brain region involved in cognitive processes. The hippocampus has high levels of leptin receptors (Ob-R) that participate in synaptic plasticity. This study examined the effect of maternal HFD during gestation on Ob-R expression in the CA1 and CA3 hippocampal regions, and its relationship with spatial learning and memory in the offspring. We used 48 rat pups: 24 from dams fed a balanced diet (BD, 6.2% fat) and 24 from those fed an HFD (42% fat) during pregnancy. We recorded weight gain and food intake in each pup every day beginning on postnatal day 3 (PND 3). Memory acquisition was assessed on PND 28 and memory retention on PND 42 in the Morris water maze (MWM). Then, 12 pups per group were selected randomly and subjected to bioimpedance spectroscopy. The remaining offspring was perfused to determine Ob-R expression levels in the CA1 and CA3 hippocampal regions. Interestingly, HFD pups had significantly higher weight gain, food intake, and fat mass than BD offspring. Interestingly, the HFD group showed poor memory performance, which correlated with changes in the Ob-R expression in both hippocampal regions. These data indicate that maternal exposure to HFD impacts neurodevelopmental and cognitive functions of the offspring.

KEYWORDS:

• High-fat diet
• leptin
• hippocampus
• learning
• memory
• neurodevelopment
• Glia
• astrocytes

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by Fondo Ramón Álvarez Buylla de Aldana (FRABA) 846/13, PROMEP 103.5/12/4857, CONACyT (PN-2015-01-465) and PROFOCIE UCOL-CS 2014-201. The authors thank Jorge Collás and Ricardo Pedraza for their valuable technical assistance.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Fondo Ramón Álvarez Buylla de Aldana (FRABA): [Grant Number 846/13]; PROFOCIE UCOL-CS: [Grant Number 2014-201]; CONACyT: [Grant Number PN-2015-01-465]; PROMEP: [Grant Number 103.5/12/4857].

Notes on contributors

Nadia Yanet Cortés-Álvarez

Nadia Yanet Cortés-Álvarez she is currently enrolled in the Medical sciences doctorate program of the school of medicine in the University of Colima, Mexico. Her research interest are the effects of maternal diet intake and its relationship with behavior and brain biomarkers.

César Rubén Vuelvas-Olmos

César Rubén Vuelvas-Olmos, is currently enrolled in the Medical Sciences PhD program in the University of Colima, Mexico. His current research areas are the cognitive function assessment in sports related to concussions and the effects of herbal medicine on behavior and brain protein expression.

María Fernanda Pinto-González

María Fernanda Pinto-González is a professor in the school of Psychology of the University of Colima and the Psychology Bachelor's program of the University of Valle de Atemajac, Mexico. She is currently enrolled in the Medical sciences doctorate program from the University's school of medicine and her work mainly focus in prenatal brain development and its impact on behavior.

Jorge Guzmán-Muñiz

Jorge Guzmán-Muñiz, is a full-time professor at the school of psychology in the University of Colima, Mexico. His expertise area is statistical analysis applied in neuroscience and behavior, mainly rewarding maternal behavior, ultrasonic vocalizations in animal models, and developmental neuroscience.

Oscar Gonzalez-Perez

Oscar Gonzalez-Perez is Professor of Neuroscience in the School of Psychology at the University of Colima, Mexico. He has been Visiting Professor of the Department of Neurological Surgery, School of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University and the Mayo Clinic at Jacksonville, FL. He is Associate Editor of Frontiers in Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience and expert in neurobiology and neural regeneration.

Norma Angélica Moy-López

Norma Angélica Moy-López is headmaster and professor in the school of psychology and professor in the school of medicine from the university of Colima, México. Her expertise area of research is developmental neuroscience with a focus on prenatal environmental factors and their behavioral outcomes related to molecular changes.