The behavioral and physiological effects of high‐fat diet and alcohol consumption: Sex differences in C57BL6/J mice

Abstract

Background and ObjectiveAnimal studies can be a great tool to investigate sex differences in a variety of different ways, including behavioral and physiological responses to drug treatments and different “lifestyle variables” such as diets. Consumption of both high‐fat diets and alcohol is known to affect anxiety behaviors and overall health. This project investigated how high‐fat diet and alcohol access and its combination affected the behavior and physiology of male and female C57BL/6J mice.MethodMice were separated into three food groups: high‐fat diet, 10% fat diet, and regular chow, and each group was paired with either water or 10% alcohol. Behavioral assays included diet and alcohol preference, light‐dark box, open field, and feeding and drinking measurements. Physiological measures included glucose tolerance tests and measurement of brain‐derived neurotrophic factor, insulin, and leptin levels.ResultsFemales and males differed in the open field, as male mice decreased activity, while females increased activity when consuming high‐fat diet. While females consumed more ethanol than males, alcohol consumption was able to improve glucose tolerance and increase anxiety in both sexes. Lastly, females were more resistant to the physiological changes caused by high‐fat diet than males, as females consuming high‐fat diet exhibited decreased insulin secretion, less change to brain‐derived neurotrophic factor levels, and better glucose tolerance than males consuming high‐fat diet.ConclusionThese results suggest that the response to high‐fat diet and alcohol consumption is sex dependent and that males are more affected both behaviorally and physiologically by high‐fat diet compared to females.

Adverse maternal environment and western diet impairs cognitive function and alters hippocampal glucocorticoid receptor promoter methylation in male mice

“…Interestingly, the behavior differences described here were only exhibited by male mice, which also mirrors some human (Alastalo et al, 2013; de Kloet et al, 2005) and animal studies (Arp et al, 2016; Gelineau et al, 2017; Maniam et al, 2010; Naninck et al, 2015). Alastalo et al (2013) have reported that temporarily childhood parental separation during World War II increased the risk for impaired physical and psychosocial functioning in adult men but not in adult women.…”

“…Naninck et al (2015) showed that limited nesting and bedding material from postnatal day 2–9 impaired cognitive functions in hippocampus‐dependent tasks more prominently in male adult mice. Furthermore, high‐fat diet exposure decreases activity in open field test in adult male but not in female mice (Gelineau et al, 2017). Similarly, in current study, we found that both the effects of AME‐WD on learning and memory and the effects of postweaning WD on depression‐like behavior were only apparent in males.…”

Gamma Oryzanol Alleviates High-Fat Diet-Induced Anxiety-Like Behaviors Through Downregulation of Dopamine and Inflammation in the Amygdala of Mice

“…In the present study, mice maintained on a HFD for 8 weeks showed strong anxiety-like behaviors, evidenced by a significant reduction in total distance traveled (m), the number of entries into the center zone in the OFT, and open arm time spent (s) and distance traveled (m) in the EPM test. A consistent study reported that HFD mice traveled less, and without differences in center preference in OFT and where increased anxiety-like behaviors were present (Gelineau et al, 2017). In our preliminary data, GORZ dissolved in AIN-93M standard food did not show any anxiety or anxiolytic-like effects in a behavioral test; this suggests GORZ is an ideal functional food, as it indicated a protective effect to HFD-induced abnormal behavior, without any effect on normal behavior.…”

Dopamine transporter (DAT) knockdown in the nucleus accumbens improves anxiety- and depression-related behaviors in adult mice

“…One chamber had black walls covered by the lid, and the other had white walls with a 60 W light bulb located 30 cm above the chamber. For the experiment, each mouse was placed in the light chamber and could explore the two chambers for 5 min as described by others [54][55][56]. The following parameters were hand scored: i) latency to enter the dark chamber (sec), ii) latency to re-enter the light chamber (sec), iii) total time spent in the light chamber (sec), and iv) number of crossings/transitions between the two chambers (n).…”