Fig. 4.

High-fat diet impairs learning in the novel object recognition test in non-Tg mice. Male 3xTgAD and non-Tg control mice were maintained on either a control or high-fat diet from the age of 8 weeks. Cognitive function was assessed in the novel object recognition test in separate groups of mice at the age of 3–4 (A), 7–8 (B), 11–12 (C), and 15–16 (D) months. During phase 1, the mice were placed in an arena for 10 minutes with 2 identical novel objects (data not shown). During phase 2, after an interval of 1 hour, the mice were placed back into the arena with one familiar object (presented in phase 1) and one novel object for 4 minutes and percentage time exploring objects was compared. Data are means ± SEM. n = 6–12/group. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.01 for novel versus familiar object; Student t test. Abbreviation: SEM, standard error of the mean.