The research group in Neurobiotechnology of the Universitat Jaume I (UJI), led by lecturer Ana María Sánchez, has demonstrated the positive effects of a plant hormone to reverse brain alterations caused by high-fat diets, type 2 diabetes, obesity and sedentary lifestyle. The conclusions of this work developed at the Faculty of Health Sciences have been published in the journal Molecular Neurobiology.

"We have seen how a plant hormone, abscisic acid, is capable of counteracting the deleterious effects of a fat diet in the central nervous system," explains Ana María Sánchez. By applying this molecule that is expressed in plants in an animal model of neuroinflammation induced by high-fat diet, the results of the study “have shown that alterations in the expression of some genes were reversed, as well as alterations in the process of formation of new neurons — neurogenesis —, while we observe a reduction in the markers of inflammation in the brain”, argues the UJI lecturer of Human Anatomy and Embryology.

ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE AND OTHER DEMENTIA

Researchers in neurobiotechnology at the UJI consider that deepening the knowledge of neuroinflammation is a priority public health issue, since diets high in fat and sugars, together with sedentary lifestyle, induce metabolic syndrome and neuroinflammation. This “underlies degenerative processes that can finally favour diseases as serious as Alzheimer's disease and other dementias”, says Sanchez.

The study developed in the Predepartmental Unit of Medicine of the UJI has analysed the expression of several genes related to the insulin-signalling pathway, together with the expression of genes that serve as neuroinflammation markers using the quantitative PCR technique. In this way, as the researcher of the group Alberto Ribes Navarro argues, “We have been able to demonstrate that the expression of proteins necessary for the proper function of insulin (IRS) is reduced in neuroinflammatory situations induced by fat diet”. “By adding abscisic acid to fat diet, we can rescue the expression of these genes, even reaching normal levels”, he adds.

ALTERATION OF INSULIN FUNCTION

The latest research of the group in Neurobiotechnology of the UJI has shown that the vegetable hormone abscisic acid “reduces the levels of inflammation in the brain, measured by various techniques and in different brain areas”, says researcher Sandra Sanchez-Sarasúa. She also points out that alterations in cognitive function were observed with a high-fat diet. These alterations were also rescued with the treatment of the plant hormone. In addition, “by means of protein level analysis techniques, we observed that neuroinflammation alters the expression of specific genes and that abscisic acid restores it to normal levels, thus confirming the results obtained by RNA analysis," concludes Sánchez-Sarasúa.

The results of this work reveal new data in the research of the causes of several diseases of neuroinflammatory etiology and insulin resistance. Therefore, one of the objectives of this group of the UJI is to reproduce the model of insulin resistance in an animal model, by regulating insulin signalling, using viral particles to study its regulation as a key in these neurodegenerative processes.

Lecturer Ana Sánchez directs the research group in Neurobiotechnology of the UJI. The group focuses on the study of the mechanisms by which neurodegenerative diseases can develop, such as Alzheimer's disease, where there is resistance to cerebral insulin and neuroinflammation. They also study the signalling of insulin and similar peptides, as well as their effects on behaviour. In this context, they address the construction of viral particles modified by biotechnology for in vivo modulation of gene expression.

Abscisic Acid Supplementation Rescues High Fat Diet-Induced Alterations in Hippocampal Inflammation and IRSs Expression.

Ribes-Navarro A1, Atef M1, Sánchez-Sarasúa S1, Beltrán-Bretones MT1, Olucha-Bordonau F1, Sánchez-Pérez AM2. Mol Neurobiol. 2018 May 2. doi: 10.1007/s12035-018-1091-z.

The effect of abscisic acid chronic treatment on neuroinflammatory markers and memory in a rat model of high-fat diet induced neuroinflammation. Sánchez-Sarasúa S Moustafa S, García-Avilés Á López-Climent MF, Gómez-Cadenas A, Olucha-Bordonau FE, Sánchez-Pérez AM. Nutr Metab (Lond). 2016 Oct 26;13:73. doi: 10.1186/s12986-016-0137-3.