Overweight induced by hypernutrition in juvenile rats dysregulates the central monoamines in the adult age

Resumo (EN)

Objective: Previously we observed hypercaloric diet (HD) during the juvenile period caused the male rats to become overweight, although they were subsequently fed a normocaloric diet until adulthood. The hypercaloric diet resulted in reproductive impairment, reflected by a reduction of sexual behavior, low serum testosterone levels, a reduction of sexual organ weight, and an increase in TNF-levels. Now, the long-term effects of juvenile HD exposure on striatal and hypothalamic monoamine levels of male adult rats were analyzed. Method: Male pup rats were randomly divided into two groups and fed a hypercaloric diet (HD group) from postnatal day (PND) 23 to 65 or a normonutrition diet (ND group). After PND 65, in the HD group, the diet was changed to a ND diet. Body weight at PND 23 and in PND 90 were used to calculate the body weight gain. The levels of striatal and hypothalamic serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine [5-HT]), dopamine (DA), and norepinephrine (NE) and their metabolites were measured on PND 90–95. Results: In HD rats, we observed an increase in body weight gain in adulthood, increases in striatal DA, 5-HT, and NE levels, a decrease in hypothalamic DA and 5-HT turnover, and decreased in hypothalamic NE levels. Conclusions: Thus, HD administered in male juvenile rats increased body weight gain and caused striatal and hypothalamic monoamine dysregulation at adult age.