High-fat diets have been associated with
neurodegenerative diseases, which are also largely related to the type and amount of
dietary proteins. However, to our knowledge, it is little known how
dietary proteins affect neurodegenerative changes. In this study, we investigated the effects of
dietary proteins in a high-fat diet on hippocampus functions related to enteric glial cells (EGCs) in Wistar rats that were fed either 40% or 20% (calorie)
casein, chicken
protein or pork
protein for 12 weeks (n=10 each group). Inflammatory factors, glutamatergic system, EGCs, astrocytes and nutrient transporters were measured. A high-chicken-
protein diet significantly increased the levels of systemic inflammatory factors,
Tau protein and
amyloid precursor
protein mRNA level in the rat hippocampus. The type and level of
dietary proteins in high-fat diets did not affect the gene expression of
glial fibrillary acidic protein and α-
synuclein (P>.05), indicating a negligible effect on astrocyte activity. However, the
high-protein diets up-regulated
glutamate transporters compared with the
low-protein diets (P<.05), while they reduced the γ-
aminobutyric acid content in high-chicken and -pork-
protein diets (P<.05). Thus, compared with a
low-protein diet (20%), a high-chicken or -pork-
protein diet (40%) under a high-fat background could alter the balance between glutamatergic system and
neurotransmitter and have a stronger effect on the interactions between hippocampal glutamatergic system and EGCs.