Retinol supplementation improves locomotion and reduces anxiety-like behavior in male mice fed a high-fat diet  — The Association Specialists
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Retinol supplementation improves locomotion and reduces anxiety-like behavior in male mice fed a high-fat diet  (21784)

Abdur Rahman 1 , Abrar Al-Shahabi 1 , Irina Al-Khairi 2 , Jehad Abubakr 2 , Mohammad Al-Onaizi 2 3 , Mohamed Abufarha 2
  1. College of Life Sciences, Kuwait University, Kuwait, KUWAIT
  2. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Dasman Diabetes Institute, Kuwait, Al-Asima
  3. Department of Anatomoy, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University, Kuwait, KUWAIT

Feeding high-fat diet (HFD) to rodents has been shown to induce anxiety-like behavior by exacerbating amygdala plasticity and amygdala-dependent aversive memory. Vitamin A (VA) deficiency has been shown to be associated with impaired cognition. We investigated if VA supplementation could ameliorate anxiety-like behavior in mice fed HFD. Eight weeks old C57BL/6J mice were divided into two groups. Group 1 (HFD-control) was fed an HFD diet (60% fat) for 8 weeks, and group 2 (Retinol-HFD) was supplemented with VA (10,000 IU retinol/Kg/day) by gavage for 8 weeks along with HFD. Exploratory activity and anxiety-like behavior were measured by an open-field test. Distance traveled and time spent in the center zone by each animal was recorded for 30 min with a video-imaging system. Body weight was significantly higher in the Control-HFD group (p<0.05) in both male and female. In the male mice, the number of entries to the central zone, the time spent, and the distance covered in the central zone were all significantly higher (p< 0.05) in the Retinol-HFD group compared to the control-HFD group. In addition, the total distance covered in the open field was significantly higher in the Retinol-HFD group compared to the control-HFD group.  In the female mice, VA supplementation did not show any effect on any of these parameters of the open-field test. These data suggest that VA supplementation improves locomotion and reduce anxiety-like behavior in an HFD-fed male mice only. The mechanism by which VA produce these effects is currently under investigation.