Premium
Short‐term high‐fat diet increases the presence of astrocytes in the hypothalamus of C57 BL 6 mice without altering leptin sensitivity
Author(s) -
Balland E.,
Cowley M. A.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of neuroendocrinology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.062
H-Index - 116
eISSN - 1365-2826
pISSN - 0953-8194
DOI - 10.1111/jne.12504
Subject(s) - leptin , endocrinology , medicine , hypothalamus , arcuate nucleus , immunostaining , glial fibrillary acidic protein , astrocyte , inflammation , biology , chemistry , obesity , immunohistochemistry , central nervous system
Diet‐induced obesity is associated with hypothalamic inflammation and this phenomenon has been proposed to explain leptin resistance. In the present study, we used a short‐term high‐fat diet ( HFD ) paradigm for 10 days and analysed the cellular and physiological responses to leptin administration in C57 BL 6 mice. In parallel, we performed glial fibrillary acidic protein immunostaining to measure the presence of astrocytes in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus ( ARH ) after 10 days and 20 weeks of HFD . Interestingly, the results obtained demonstrate that the presence of star‐like astrocytes is significantly increased after 10 days of HFD , although this is not associated with the absence of cellular and physiological response to leptin administration in mice. Taken together, the results of the present study suggest that star‐like astrocytes rapidly increase in numbers in the ARH in response to HFD , although this phenomenon cannot explain the development of leptin resistance by itself.