Adolescence is a developmental epoch characterized by massive neural circuit remodeling; thus, the brain is particularly vulnerable to environmental influences during this period. Excessive high-fat diet (HFD) consumption, which is very common among adolescents, has long been recognized as a potent risk factor for multiple mood disorders, including depression and anxiety. However, the precise mechanisms underlying the influences of HFD consumption in adolescence on emotional health are far from clear. In the present study, C57BL/6 mice were fed a control diet (CD) or HFD for about 4 weeks from postnatal day (P) 28 to P60, spanning most of the adolescence period, and then subjected to behavioral assessments and histological examinations. HFD mice exhibited elevated levels of depression and anxiety, decreased hippocampal neurogenesis, and excessive microglial activation in the ventral hippocampus. Furthermore, in HFD-fed mice, microglia showed increased DCX+ inclusions, suggesting aberrant microglial engulfment of newborn neurons in HFD-fed adolescents. To our knowledge, this is the first observation suggesting that the negative effects of HFD consumption in adolescence on emotion and neuroplasticity may be attributed at least in part to aberrant microglial engulfment of nascent neurons, extending our understanding of the mechanism underlying HFD-related affective disorders in young people.

It is attractive and realistic to construct deformable, recyclable, and high-performance adaptive structural materials. In this paper, a novel method was presented to improve the deformability of traditional epoxy resins by a topological design at the molecular level. Conformational transformation of crosslinked networks is facilitated by grafting rigid side groups onto the backbone, which can also be achieved in multicomponent epoxy resins with low side group concentration. The conformational evolution of the side groups enables resins to achieve multiple enhancements in the modulus, strength, and deformability of thermoset materials and was simulated by molecular dynamics. The property of group motion and free volume is further investigated by broad-band dielectric spectroscopy and positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy. The dangling groups provide a possibility for the conformational changes in the network while retaining the advantages of high mechanical performance. This method offers further processing possibilities of thermoset materials and its composites, which will prove to be of great value in the near future.

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