Impact of fatty acids on glutamate-related gene expression in the hippocampus: Focus on lauric acid.

Excessive dietary fat consumption has been linked to impairments in synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus (HIP), a brain region crucial for learning and memory that relies on balanced glutamatergic neurotransmission. This study investigates the acute effects of three fatty acids (FAs)-lauric acid (LA), palmitic acid (PA), and oleic acid (OA)-on glutamate (GLU)-related gene expression in the HIP of male and female young mice. Hippocampal slices were treated with FAs, and mRNA levels of genes involved in GLU transport, GLU-glutamine (GLN) cycling, and GLU receptor subunit encoding were quantified using RT-PCR.