Casquero-Veiga Marta, Llorca-Torralba Meritxell, Bueno-Fernandez Clara, Romero-Miguel Diego, Lamanna-Rama Nicolás, Winter Christine, Berrocoso Esther, Nacher Juan, Desco Manuel, Soto-Montenegro Mª Luisa
Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón, C/ Dr. Esquerdo, 46, 28007, Madrid, Spain.
CIBER de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), C/ Monforte de Lemos 3-5, 28029, Madrid, Spain.
Transl Psychiatry. 2025 Aug 9;15(1):273. doi: 10.1038/s41398-025-03478-1.
The lateral hypothalamus (LH) plays a key role in regulating energy balance and appetite, making it a potential target for deep brain stimulation (DBS) in treatment-resistant obesity. In this study, we evaluated the short and long-term in vivo effects of continuous LH-DBS over 15 days in a genetic model of obesity: the Zucker rat. We examined changes in body weight, brain glucose metabolism (via positron emission tomography, PET), and memory performance, along with ex vivo neuroplasticity in different hippocampal layers one month post-treatment. Contrary to expectations, continuous LH-DBS did not reduce the weight gain or food intake. While stimulated rats exhibited hippocampal hypermetabolism and enhanced synaptogenesis, these changes did not translate into cognitive improvements. Interestingly, long-term memory benefits were observed in all animals that underwent surgery, regardless of whether they received stimulation. In conclusion, our results do not support continuous LH-DBS as an effective treatment to reduce body weight in cases of obesity with genetic leptin resistance. However, the hippocampal modulation induced by continuous LH-DBS shows potential for addressing cognitive impairments associated with leptin resistance. These findings suggest that alternative DBS protocols may help restore hippocampal function, warranting further investigation.
外侧下丘脑(LH)在调节能量平衡和食欲方面起着关键作用,这使其成为难治性肥胖症中深部脑刺激(DBS)的潜在靶点。在本研究中,我们评估了在肥胖基因模型—— Zucker大鼠中连续15天进行LH-DBS的短期和长期体内效应。我们检查了体重、脑葡萄糖代谢(通过正电子发射断层扫描,PET)和记忆表现的变化,以及治疗后一个月不同海马层的离体神经可塑性。与预期相反,连续LH-DBS并没有减轻体重增加或食物摄入量。虽然受刺激的大鼠表现出海马高代谢和突触形成增强,但这些变化并没有转化为认知改善。有趣的是,所有接受手术的动物都观察到了长期记忆益处,无论它们是否接受刺激。总之,我们的结果不支持连续LH-DBS作为治疗具有遗传性瘦素抵抗的肥胖症患者减轻体重的有效方法。然而,连续LH-DBS诱导的海马调节显示出解决与瘦素抵抗相关的认知障碍的潜力。这些发现表明,替代DBS方案可能有助于恢复海马功能,值得进一步研究。
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