Transcriptome analysis in the olfactory bulb of high-fat diet-fed mice

Metabolic imbalance contributes to cognitive impairment, anxiety, depressive behavior, and impaired olfactory perception. As the synaptic signal from the olfactory bulb is directly transmitted to memory consolidation-related brain regions, recent studies have focused on the study of olfactory dysfunction in patients with obesity and diabetes accompanied by cognitive dysfunction. In this study, we investigated the transcriptomic change of olfactory bulb in high-fat diet-fed mice compared to that of normal diet-fed mice. We sampled olfactory bulbs from high fat diet mice, performed RNA sequencing, and measured protein and mRNA levels in olfactory bulb tissue. Also, we tested cytokine secretion in blood plasma of high fat diet mice. We found differences in the expression of protein-coding mRNAs and non-coding RNAs involved in insulin, lipid metabolism, neurogenesis, serotonin, dopamine, and gamma-aminobutyric acid-related signaling in the olfactory bulb of high-fat diet-fed mice compared to control mice. Our analyses suggest diverse targets for the treatment of olfactory dysfunction related to various neuropathologies in patients with metabolic syndrome.