Abstract #1973

Effects of Cafeteria Diet and Voluntary Running on Brain Structure and Metabolism in Mice

Markus Sack¹,², Johannes Fuss³, Claudia Falfn-Melgoza², Sarah Biedermann,¹², Matthias Auer⁴, Jenny Lenz⁴, Gabriele Ende¹, Alexander Sartorius,²⁵, Peter Gass³, Wolfgang Weber-Fahr,¹²

¹Neuroimaging, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim / Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany; ²RG Translational Imaging, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim / Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany; ³RG Animal Models in Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim / Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany; ⁴Endocrinology, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany; ⁵Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim / Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany

Obesity is one of the major health burdens of modern societies associated with a great variety of health-threatening sequela such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer and even psychiatric disorders. We conducted a MR spectroscopy study investigating metabolic changes in a cafeteria-mouse model vs. control mice receiving standard chow in the right hippocampus and prefrontal cortex area in conjunction with VBM analyses. We found that physical exercise and cafeteria diet have opposite effects. While exercising mice show increased metabolite concentrations (NAA+NAAG and Glu+Gln) and increased volume within the hippocampal area, cafeteria diet counterparts the metabolic effect without impact on brain structure.