Possible involvement of dehydroepiandrosterone and cyproterone acetate central role in young and aged male rats fed on high fat diet

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate the effects of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and Cyproterone Acetate (CA) on the levels of monoamine neurotransmitters in the brain as well as on the levels of serum DHEA, testosterone and corticosterone in young and aged rats fed on high fat diet. These neurotransmitters and hormones were chosen because of their association with obesity, mood and cognitive functions. Young and aged male rats were divided into two normal basal diet and high fat diet fed groups. Each group was further divided into control, DHEA, CA and DHEA+CA. Treatments were given for either 2 or 8 consecutive weeks. DHEA treatment induced a significant reduction in the cortical contents of norepinephrine, epinephrine, dopamine and serotonin in aged rats, whereas young rats fed on a normal diet exhibited a significant elevation in serotonin level. Young rats fed on high fat diet exhibited a significant elevation of both norepinephrine and epinephrine. CA treatment induced an increase in corlical monoamine levels of young and aged rats fed on both types of diet. All treatments increased hypothalamic serotonin contents. DHEA treatment increased serum DHEA, corticosterone and testosterone levels, while CA treatment decreased corticosterone and testosterone levels without significance on the DHEA level in all treated gwups. Treatment with DHEA+CA restored testosterone to its normal value. In general, there is a positive correlation between serum DHEA level and hypothalamic neurotransmitters and the levels of studied serum hormones. On the other hand, there was a negative correlation between serum DHEA level and cortical neurotransmitters. It is possible that DHEA induces its hypolipidemic action through stimulating the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis-resulting in elevating corticosterone level with its known lipolytic action. The young rats fed on high fat diet were the most affected group as the diet caused inverse results in correlation between serum DHEA level and hypothalamic monoamine neurotransmitters and these results might have led to discourage the obesity, mood and cognitive functions. Also, treatment with the two drugs together would maintain normal levels if DHEA, corticosterone and testosterone.