Cafeteria-diet induced obesity results in impaired cognitive functioning in a rodent model

Abstract

Objectives This study seeks to characterize the progressive course of physiological and behavioural outcomes in rodents following excessive caloric intake through the chronic consumption of a highly palatable diet, the cafeteria (CAF) diet. Methods Male Sprague Dawley rats were maintained on either CAF or chow (CON) diets for 20 weeks. Metabolic and physiological parameters were monitored throughout the feeding period. From week 18, rats were subjected to behavioural testing, which included the Morris water maze (MWM) and novel object recognition (NOR) tasks. Results CAF rats consistently showed higher food intakes and consumed six times the energy of chow-fed rats, being significantly heavier by week 5. CAF rats further exhibited greater abdominal widths, fat pads, and larger fatty livers, as well as compromised glucose tolerance. Hyperinsulinemia and dyslipidaemia with elevated serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels and reduced HDL cholesterol were also evident along with a pro-inflammatory profile in the CAF rats. Cognitive decline in CAF rats manifested as a decline in long-term retention memory in the MWM. Further, CAF rats exhibited deficits in recognition memory as they spent less time exploring the novel object than chow-fed rats in the NOR task. Discussion This model of obesity is a robust paradigm for producing an obese animal phenotype that closely mimics the evolution of human obesity, complete with metabolic dysfunctions that are indicative of pre-diabetes. Additionally, chronic CAF-diet induced obesity promotes cognitive impairments in hippocampal-dependent reference and working memory.

Chronic Mild Unpredictable Stress and High-Fat Diet Given during Adolescence Impact Both Cognitive and Noncognitive Behaviors in Young Adult Mice

“…Other types of dietary interventions (poor diets), including cafeteria diet [ 86 , 87 , 88 ], high-sugar diets [ 89 ], or diet manipulations involving adjustments to both fat and sugar [ 41 , 60 , 90 , 91 ] should also be considered in future research exploring the effect that diet has on cognitive function and physical health.…”

Intermittent cafeteria diet identifies fecal microbiome changes as a predictor of spatial recognition memory impairment in female rats

“…We and others have used rodent models to show that a western-style cafeteria diet, high in fat and sugar, promotes prolonged hyperphagia and increases adiposity, compromising metabolic health [4][5][6] . Exposure to such diets impairs performance on hippocampal-dependent tasks assessing short-term spatial recognition 2,7 and reference 8,9 memory, as well as disrupting multiple hippocampal molecular pathways, including pro-inflammatory signaling 7,8,10 , blood-brain barrier integrity 3,11 and synaptic transmission 12 , and inducing fecal microbiome perturbations 13,14 . However, no one of these physiological changes has been consistently tied to the behavioral phenotype and limited studies targeting causation have been undertaken.…”

Time-Restricted Feeding Improves Body Weight Gain, Lipid Profiles, and Atherogenic Indices in Cafeteria-Diet-Fed Rats: Role of Browning of Inguinal White Adipose Tissue

“…The closest comparable to human Western foods is the cafeteria diet (CAF), as it provides animals with nutritionally varied diet of high-energy, palatable human foods that are low in fiber and contain substantial amounts of fat, sugar, and salt (for example, cheese, chocolate, processed meat, chips, and cookies), thereby recapitulating the key obesogenic features of the unhealthy human diet [ 26 , 27 ]. Furthermore, an extended CAFdiet in rodents produced an exaggerated phenotype of obesity with excessive body weight gain, pronounced adiposity, dyslipidemia, and liver inflammation [ 28 , 29 , 30 ] and has been argued to model modern human obesity and related metabolic disorders more severely than the classical HFD mode [ 28 ]. In addition, a CAFdiet exerted a robust impact upon appetite and energy intake due to its high amount of sugar, salt, and additives, such as appetizers and flavor enhancers, compared to the traditional HFD [ 31 ].…”