Male mice placed on a ketogenic diet from postnatal day (P) 21 through adulthood have reduced growth, are hypoactive, show increased freezing in a conditioned fear paradigm, and have spatial learning deficits.

The ketogenic diet (KD) is a non-pharmacological treatment for specific types of epilepsy. In addition, it has been shown to be effective in mitigating other neurologic disorders. The KD is also effective in reducing body mass, leading to an increase in use by the general population for weight loss. As the popularity of the clinical and general use of the KD has increased, it is important to develop adequate mouse models to better understand the effects of the KD in both normal and diseased states. Many times, the best outcome for disorders treatable with the KD would be achieved by commencing treatment in early life. Few studies have evaluated the cognitive effect of starting the KD in early life. To better understand these effects, male C57BL6/J mice were placed on a KD from postnatal day (P) 21 through young adulthood (~P90). KD-fed mice had increased blood ketone levels, reduced blood glucose, and reduced weight gain versus mice fed a control diet (CD). The weight loss in the KD-fed mice was not accompanied by a change in body fat percentage, suggesting that there was a loss of lean mass. Behavioral testing began on P60 while the mice were still on the diet. KD-fed mice were hypoactive with CD-fed mice. In the Morris water maze, KD-fed mice showed decreased path efficiency, suggesting a spatial learning deficits. No differences were observed in spatial memory or in novel object recognition memory. In a contextual and conditioned fear paradigm, the KD-fed mice had an increase in freezing behavior. These data suggest that early-life exposure to a KD leads to impaired body composition and long-term cognitive changes.

Dodecyl creatine ester-loaded nanoemulsion as a promising therapy for creatine transporter deficiency.

Creatine transporter (CrT) deficiency is an X-linked intellectual disability caused by mutations of CrT. Aim: This work focus on the preclinical development of a new therapeutic approach based on a microemulsion (ME) as drug delivery system for dodecyl creatine ester (DCE). Materials & methods: DCE-ME was prepared by titration method. Novel object recognition (NOR) tests were performed before and after DCE-ME treatment on Slc6a8-/y mice. Results: Intranasal administration with DCE-ME improved NOR performance in Slc6a8-/y mice. Slc6a8-/y mice treated with DCE-ME had increased striatal ATP levels mainly in the striatum compared with vehicle-treated Slc6a8-/y mice which was associated with increased expression of synaptic markers. Conclusion: These results highlight the potential value of DCE-ME as promising therapy for creatine transporter deficiency.

Creatine transporter deficiency leads to increased whole body and cellular metabolism.

Creatine (Cr) is a guanidino compound required for rapid replenishment of ATP in cells with a high-energy demand. In humans, mutations in the Cr transporter (CRT;SLC6A8) prevent Cr entry into tissue and result in a significant intellectual impairment, epilepsy, and aphasia. The lack of Cr on both the whole body and cellular metabolism was evaluated in Crt knockout (Crt (-/y) ) mice, a high-fidelity model of human CRT deficiency. Crt (-/y) mice have reduced body mass and, however, show a twofold increase in body fat. There was increased energy expenditure in a home cage environment and during treadmill running in Crt (-/y) mice. Consistent with the increases in the whole-body metabolic function, Crt (-/y) mice show increased cellular metabolism as well. Mitochondrial respiration increased in skeletal muscle fibers and hippocampal lysates from Crt (-/y) mice. In addition, Crt (-/y) mice had increased citrate synthase activity, suggesting a higher number of mitochondria instead of an increase in mitochondrial activity. To determine if the increase in respiration was due to increased mitochondrial numbers, we measured oxygen consumption in an equal number of mitochondria from Crt (+/y) and Crt (-/y) mice. There were no changes in mitochondrial respiration when normalized to mitochondrial number, suggesting that the increase in respiration observed could be to higher mitochondrial content in Crt (-/y) mice.