RAPID COMMUNICATION Juvenile, but Not Adult Exposure to High-Fat Diet Impairs Relational Memory and Hippocampal Neurogenesis in Mice

Increased consumption of high-fat diet (HFD) leads to obesity and adverse neurocognitive outcomes. Childhood and adoles- cence are important periods of brain maturation shaping cognitive func- tion. These periods could consequently be particularly sensitive to the detrimental effects of HFD intake. In mice, juvenile and adulthood con- sumption of HFD induce similar morphometric and metabolic changes. However, only juvenile exposure to HFD abolishes relational memory flexibility, assessed after initial radial-maze concurrent spatial discrimi- nation learning, and decreases neurogenesis. Our results identify a criti- cal period of development covering adolescence with higher sensitivity to HFD-induced hippocampal dysfunction at both behavioral and cellu- lar levels. V C 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.