@misc{10481/97133,
year = {2024},
month = {7},
url = {https://hdl.handle.net/10481/97133},
abstract = {Cocoa is widely known for its health benefits, but its neurocognitive impact remains underexplored. This
preclinical study aimed to investigate the effects of cocoa and cocoa polyphenols on hippocampal neuroplasticity,
cognitive function and emotional behavior. Seventy young-adult C57BL/6JRj male and female
mice were fed either a standard diet (CTR) or a diet enriched with 10% high-phenolic content cocoa
(HPC) or low-phenolic content cocoa (LPC) for at least four weeks. In a first experiment, behavioral tests
assessing exploratory behavior, emotional responses and hippocampal-dependent memory were conducted
four weeks into the diet, followed by animal sacrifice a week later. Adult hippocampal neurogenesis
and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex
were evaluated using immunohistochemistry and western blot. In a different experiment, hippocampal
synaptic response, long-term potentiation and presynaptic-dependent short-term plasticity were studied
by electrophysiology. Cocoa-enriched diets had minimal effects on exploratory activity and anxiety-like
behavior, except for reduced locomotion in the LPC group. Only the HPC diet enhanced object recognition
memory, while place recognition memory and spatial navigation remained unaffected. The HPC
diet also increased adult hippocampal neurogenesis, boosting the proliferation, survival and number of
young adult-born neurons. However, both cocoa-enriched diets increased immobility in the forced
swimming test and hippocampal BDNF expression. Hippocampal electrophysiology revealed no alterations
in neuroplasticity among diets. The results were mostly unaffected by sex. Overall, the HPC diet
demonstrated greater potential regarding cognitive and neuroplastic benefits, suggesting a key role of
cocoa flavanols in dietary interventions aimed at enhancing brain health.},
organization = {Grant PID2020-114374RB-I00 funded
by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033},
organization = {Junta de Andalucía-Consejería de Universidad, Investigación e
Innovación – Proyect P21_00777},
organization = {Universidad de Málaga (C.2. II Plan Propio de Investigación,
Transferencia y Divulgación Científica)},
organization = {Contract from
the National System of Health, EU-ERDF-ISCIII (CP19/00068)},
organization = {Predoctoral grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (FPU17/
00276)},
organization = {Postdoctoral research contract
from Secretaría General de Universidades, Investigación y
Tecnología– Junta de Andalucía (POSTDOC21_00365)},
organization = {predoctoral grant from the Spanish
Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (FPU19/
02009)},
publisher = {Royal Society of Chemistry},
title = {Diet enriched with high-phenolic cocoa potentiates hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression and neurogenesis in healthy adult micewith subtle effects on memory†},
doi = {10.1039/D4FO01201A},
author = {Melgar-Locatelli, Sonia and Mañas-Padilla, M.Carmen and Castro-Zavala, Adriana and Rivera, Patricia and Razola-Díaz, María del Carmen and Monje, Francisco J. and Rodríguez-Pérez, Celia and Castilla-Ortega, Estela},
}