Astrogliosis in the brain of obese Zucker rat: A model of metabolic syndrome

•Metabolic syndrome is associated with impaired cognitive function.•The obese Zucker rat (OZR) represents a model of type 2 diabetes.•Study has investigated brain astrogliosis in OZRs compared with their littermate lean Zucker rats (LZRs).•Results indicating the occurrence of brain injury accompanie...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuroscience letters 2013-05, Vol.543, p.136-141
Main Authors: Tomassoni, Daniele, Nwankwo, Innocent Ejike, Gabrielli, Maria Gabriella, Bhatt, Siddhartha, Muhammad, Abdul Bari, Lokhandwala, Mustafa F., Tayebati, Seyed Khosrow, Amenta, Francesco
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Astrocytes - metabolism
Astrocytes - pathology
Astrogliosis
Blood Glucose - metabolism
Brain
Brain - metabolism
Brain - pathology
Cholesterol - blood
Disease Models, Animal
Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein - metabolism
Gliosis - metabolism
Gliosis - pathology
Male
Metabolic syndrome
Metabolic Syndrome - blood
Metabolic Syndrome - pathology
Obese Zucker rats
Oxidative Stress
Rats
Rats, Zucker
Triglycerides - blood
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Summary:•Metabolic syndrome is associated with impaired cognitive function.•The obese Zucker rat (OZR) represents a model of type 2 diabetes.•Study has investigated brain astrogliosis in OZRs compared with their littermate lean Zucker rats (LZRs).•Results indicating the occurrence of brain injury accompanied by astrogliosis in OZRs.•OZRs may also represent a model for assessing the influence of metabolic syndrome on brain. Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a disorder characterized primarily by the development of insulin resistance. Insulin resistance and subsequent hyperinsulinemia, originating from abdominal obesity, increases the risk of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality. Obesity is probably a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia and is associated with impaired cognitive function. The obese Zucker rat (OZR) represents a model of type 2 diabetes exhibiting a moderate degree of arterial hypertension and of increased oxidative stress. To clarify the possible relationships between MetS and brain damage, the present study has investigated brain microanatomy in OZRs compared with their littermate controls lean Zucker rats (LZRs). Male OZRs and LZRs of 12 weeks of age were used. Their brain was processed for immunochemical and immunohistochemical analysis of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). In frontal and parietal cortex of OZRs a significant increase in the number of GFAP immunoreactive astrocytes was observed. Similar findings were found in the hippocampus, where an increased number of GFAP immunoreactive astrocytes were detected in the CA1 and CA3 subfields and dentate gyrus of OZRs compared to the LZRs. These findings indicating the occurrence of brain injury accompanied by astrogliosis in OZRs suggest that these rats, developed as an animal model of type 2 diabetes, may also represent a model for assessing the influence of MetS on brain. The identification of neurodegenerative changes in OZRs may represent the first step for better characterizing neuronal involvement in this model of MetS and possible treatment for countering it.
ISSN:0304-3940
1872-7972
DOI:10.1016/j.neulet.2013.03.025