Figure 10.

Grey matter and white matter integrity. Diffusion tensor imaging was performed in vivo to investigate grey and white matter integrity of HFD, HFD + exercise, and HFD + BCAA + exercise animals at baseline (chow) and after 3.5 and 6 months of treatment. Fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) were assessed in (A,C) white matter and (B,D) grey matter. Additionally, polarized light imaging (PLI) was performed post mortem to quantify myelin density, based on the (E) retardance map, as well as fiber orientation, based on the (F) dispersion map, in different brain regions, including the anterior commissure (AC), corpus callosum (CC), fimbria (FI), hippocampus (HI), and optic tract (OT). Group differences between young chow-fed animals (baseline), HFD, HFD + exercise, and HFD + BCAA + exercise animals were analyzed. High-fat diet (HFD), branched-chain amino acids (BCAA). Data are presented as mean ± SEM. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001, # 0.05 < p < 0.08 (trend).