Issue 1, 2021

Low-dose alcohol ameliorated high fat diet-induced anxiety-related behavior via enhancing adiponectin expression and activating the Nrf2 pathway

Abstract

Long-term high-fat-diet (HFD)-induced obesity is associated with many comorbidities, such as cognitive impairment and anxiety, which are increasing public health burdens that have gained prevalence in adolescents. Although low-dose alcohol could attenuate the risk of cardiovascular disease, its mechanism on HFD-induced anxiety-related behavior remains not clear. The mice were divided into 4 groups, Control (Con), Alcohol (Alc), HFD and HFD + Alc groups. To verify the effects of low-dose alcohol on HFD-induced anxiety-related behavior, the mice were fed with HFD for 16 weeks. At the beginning of week 13, the HFD-fed mice were administered intragastrically with low-dose alcohol (0.8 g kg−1) for 4 weeks. After 4 weeks of oral administration, low-dose alcohol decreased body weight and Lee's index in HFD-induced obese mice. Moreover, low-dose alcohol alleviated the anxiety-related behaviors of obese mice in the open field test and the elevated plus maze test. The HFD-induced damage to the hippocampus was improved in hematoxylin–eosin staining assay in mice. In addition, low-dose alcohol also suppressed HFD-induced oxidative stress and increased HFD-suppressed adiponectin (APN) expression and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) activation in the hippocampus. Taken together, low-dose alcohol significantly ameliorates HFD-induced obesity, oxidative stress and anxiety-related behavior in mice, which might be related to APN upregulation, Nrf2 activation and related antioxidase expression including SOD1, HO-1, and catalase.

Graphical abstract: Low-dose alcohol ameliorated high fat diet-induced anxiety-related behavior via enhancing adiponectin expression and activating the Nrf2 pathway

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
16 Oct 2020
Accepted
23 Nov 2020
First published
24 Nov 2020

Food Funct., 2021,12, 241-251

Low-dose alcohol ameliorated high fat diet-induced anxiety-related behavior via enhancing adiponectin expression and activating the Nrf2 pathway

J. Cheng, M. Zhang, S. Cheng, F. Li, B. Zhang, X. Sun, H. Hu, L. Chen, Z. Zhao, H. Hu and Z. Zhang, Food Funct., 2021, 12, 241 DOI: 10.1039/D0FO02704A

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