Western diet, obesity and bariatric surgery sequentially modulated anxiety, eating patterns and brain responses to sucrose in adult Yucatan minipigs

Sci Rep. 2020 Nov 18;10(1):20130. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-76910-9.

Abstract

Palatable sweet/fatty foods overconsumption is a major risk factor for obesity and eating disorders, also having an impact on neuro-behavioural hedonic and cognitive components comparable to what is described for substance abuse. We hypothesized that Yucatan minipigs would show hedonic, cognitive, and affective neuro-behavioral shifts when subjected to western diet (WD) exposure without weight gain, after the onset of obesity, and finally after weight loss induced by caloric restriction with (RYGB) or without (Sham) gastric bypass. Eating behavior, cognitive and affective abilities were assessed with a spatial discrimination task (holeboard test) and two-choice feed tests. Brain responses to oral sucrose were mapped using 18F-FDG positron emission tomography. WD exposure impaired working memory and led to an "addiction-type" neuronal pattern involving hippocampal and cortical brain areas. Obesity induced anxiety-like behavior, loss of motivation, and snacking-type eating behavior. Weight loss interventions normalized the motivational and affective states but not eating behavior patterns. Brain glucose metabolism increased in gustatory (insula) and executive control (aPFC) areas after weight loss, but RYGB showed higher responses in inhibition-related areas (dorsal striatum). These results showed that diet quality, weight loss, and the type of weight loss intervention differently impacted brain responses to sucrose in the Yucatan minipig model.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Anxiety / diet therapy
  • Anxiety / etiology*
  • Attention / physiology
  • Bariatric Surgery
  • Brain / diagnostic imaging
  • Brain / drug effects*
  • Brain / physiology
  • Diet, Western / adverse effects
  • Eating
  • Food Preferences
  • Glucose / metabolism
  • Memory Disorders / chemically induced
  • Memory Disorders / psychology
  • Motivation / drug effects
  • Obesity / etiology
  • Obesity / mortality
  • Obesity / psychology*
  • Obesity / surgery*
  • Positron-Emission Tomography
  • Sucrose / adverse effects
  • Sucrose / pharmacology*
  • Survival Rate
  • Swine
  • Swine, Miniature
  • Weight Loss / physiology

Substances

  • Sucrose
  • Glucose