Hippocampal neural cell degeneration and memory deficit in high-fat diet-induced postnatal obese rats- exploring the comparable benefits of choline and DHA or environmental enrichment

PURPOSE: Childhood obesity increases risk for neural dysfunctions causing learning and memory deficits. The objective of the study is to identify the effects of high fat diet-induced obesity in postnatal period on serum lipids, memory and neural cell survival in hippocampus and compare the role of choline and DHA or environmental enrichment in attenuating the alterations.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: 21 day postnatal male Sprague Dawley rats were assigned as Normal control [NC] fed normal chow diet, Obesity-induced [OB] fed high fat diet, Obesity-induced fed choline & DHA [OB + CHO + DHA], Obesity-induced environmental enrichment [OB + EE] [n = 8/group]. Memory was assessed using radial arm maze. Subsequently blood was collected for serum lipid analysis and rats were euthanized. 5 µm hippocampal sections were processed for cresyl-violet stain. Surviving neural cells were counted using 100 µm scale.

RESULTS: Memory errors were significantly higher [p