Effect of chronic high-fat diet on predation behavior in rats / 中南大学学报(医学版)

ABSTRACT

Objective: To observe the eff ect and mechanism of chronic high-fat diet on predation behavior in rats. Methods: Ten female SD rats with 4-week-old were randomly divided into a normal control group (NC group,n=5) and a chronic high-fat diet group (HF group,n=5). The rats in the NC group received the regular diet while rats in the HF group were fed with high-fat diet. Fitf een weeks later, the predation behavior of rats was evaluated by open if eld test and food foraging tests. At the end of experiments, the rats were killed and brain tissues were collected for evaluation of c-Fos protein expression in anterior cingulate cortex by immunohistochemical assay. Results: hT e predation behavior of rats in the HF group was signiif cantly impaired in the competitive or non-competitive food foraging test compared with the control rats (P<0.001). hT e c-fos protein expression in anterior cingulate cortex of rats from the HF group was signiif cantly decreased (P<0.001). Conclusion: Long time high-fat diet can aff ect the predation behavior of rats, which is related todysfunction of neuron in anterior cingulate cortex.