Chronic Variable Stress and Cafeteria Diet Combination Exacerbate Microglia and c-fos Activation but Not Experimental Anxiety or Depression in a Menopause Model

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 25; no. 3; p. 1455
• Main Authors: Vega-Rivera, Nelly Maritza, Estrada-Camarena, Erika, Azpilcueta-Morales, Gabriel, Cervantes-Anaya, Nancy, Treviño, Samuel, Becerril-Villanueva, Enrique, López-Rubalcava, Carolina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01-02-2024
• Subjects: Animals; Anxiety; Anxiety - etiology; Anxiety - psychology; Body Weight; c-fos; chronic variable stress; Corticosterone - blood; Cytokines; Depression - etiology; Diabetes; Diet; Diet - adverse effects; Estrogens; Female; Glucose; Iba-positive cells; Inflammation; Insulin Resistance; Lipids; Lipids - blood; Menopause; menopause model; Mental disorders; Metabolic disorders; Microglia; Neurogenesis; obesity; Rats; Stress; Stress, Psychological - metabolism; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; anxiety; c-fos; menopause model; chronic variable stress; obesity; Iba-positive cells
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms25031455

The menopause transition is a vulnerable period for developing both psychiatric and metabolic disorders, and both can be enhanced by stressful events worsening their effects. The present study aimed to evaluate whether a cafeteria diet (CAF) combined with chronic variable stress (CVS) exacerbates anxious- or depressive-like behavior and neuronal activation, cell proliferation and survival, and microglia activation in middle-aged ovariectomized (OVX) rats. In addition, body weight, lipid profile, insulin resistance, and corticosterone as an index of metabolic changes or hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activation, and the serum pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6, IL-β, and TNFα were measured. A CAF diet increased body weight, lipid profile, and insulin resistance. CVS increased corticosterone and reduced HDL. A CAF produced anxiety-like behaviors, whereas CVS induced depressive-like behaviors. CVS increased serum TNFα independently of diet. A CAF and CVS separately enhanced the percentage of Iba-positive cells in the hippocampus; the combination of factors further increased Iba-positive cells in the ventral hippocampus. A CAF and CVS increased the
-positive cells in the hippocampus; the combination of factors increased the number of positive cells expressing
in the ventral hippocampus even more. The combination of a CAF and CVS generates a slight neuroinflammation process and neuronal activation in a hippocampal region-specific manner and differentially affects the behavior.