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Molecular Biology

Lycopene attenuates western-diet-induced cognitive deficits via improving glycolipid metabolism dysfunction and inflammatory responses in gut–liver–brain axis

International Journal of Obesity volume 43, pages 1735–1746 (2019)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/objectives

The aim of the current study was to investigate the inhibitory effect of lycopene (LYC), a major carotenoid present in tomato, on high-fat and high-fructose western diet (HFFD)-induced cognitive impairments and the protective effects on HFFD-elicited insulin resistance, lipid metabolism dysfunction and inflammatory responses in the gut–liver–brain axis.

Subjects/methods

We randomly assigned 3-month-old C57BL/6 J mice to three groups with different diets: the control group, HFFD group and HFFD + LYC group (LYC, 0.03% w/w, mixed into high-fat diet) for 10 weeks.

Results

The results of the Y-maze task and Morris water maze tests demonstrated that LYC attenuated HFFD-induced memory loss. Moreover, LYC suppressed HFFD-elicited synaptic dysfunction and increased the expressions of SNAP-25 and PSD-95. Furthermore, LYC ameliorated insulin resistance, lipid metabolism dysfunction and inflammatory responses in the mouse brain and liver. LYC also prevente.d intestinal barrier integrity damages and decreased the level of circulating LPS.

Conclusions

These results demonstrated that LYC ameliorated HFFD-induced cognitive impairments in a mouse model by improving insulin resistance, lipid metabolism dysfunction and inflammatory responses in the gut–liver–brain axis. These findings indicate that LYC might be a nutritional strategy for western diet-induced dysfunction of the central nervous system.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2016YFD0400601), Science and Technology Coordination Project of Innovation in Shaanxi province (No. 2014KTCL02-07), Young Talent Fund of University Association for Science and Technology in Shaanxi, China (20170201), General Financial grant from the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2016M602867) and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2452017141).

Author contributions

Conception and design of research: JW and XL; performed experiments: JW, Zhuo Wang, BL and YQ; analysed data: JW, XT, TY and Zihan Wang; interpretation of experimental results: JW, ZL and XL; prepared figures: ZL and JW; drafted paper: JW and ZL.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Functional Chemistry and Nutrition of Food, College of Food Science and Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China

    Jia Wang, Zhuo Wang, Bing Li, Yu Qiang, Tian Yuan, Xintong Tan, Zihan Wang, Zhigang Liu & Xuebo Liu

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Wang, J., Wang, Z., Li, B. et al. Lycopene attenuates western-diet-induced cognitive deficits via improving glycolipid metabolism dysfunction and inflammatory responses in gut–liver–brain axis. Int J Obes 43, 1735–1746 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-018-0277-9

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