Studying the mechanisms underlying the interactions between metabolic disorders and mood disorders

Abstract

Metabolic disorders and depression are two important global health issues A high comorbidity of these two disorders suggests that an interaction exists between these two diseases In order to comprehensively care the patients suffering from both of these disorders it is crucial to characterize the interplays between metabolic disorders and depression We adopted high-fat diet to induce metabolic disorders in mice Results showed that high-fat diet led to an over-secretion of adrenocortical hormones especially corticosterone in mice The high-fat diet-induced increment of corticosterone was essential for the adipogenesis contributing to adipose expansion during the development of high-fat diet-induced obesity in mice Moreover high-fat diet induced depression-like behaviors but not anxiety and memory deficits in mice The complexity of astrocytic process arbors was suppressed and the expression of glial glutamate transporters i e GLAST and GLT-1 was reduced in the hippocampus of mice fed with high-fat diet Virally knockdowning the hippocampal expression of GLAST and GLT-1 induced depression-like phenotypes in na?ve mice Riluzole a glutamatergic transmission normalizer restored the hippocampal levels of GLAST and GLT-1 and reversed the exhibitions of depression-like behaviors in the mice fed with high-fat diet

Date of Award	2018 Jul 25
Original language	English
Supervisor	Yu-Min Kuo (Supervisor)