Kovács, Eszter Rebeka (2023) Intermittent fasting improves learning and memory functioning by enhancing neural plasticity mechanisms. Master's Thesis / Essay, Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences.
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Abstract
Intermittent fasting (IF) received growing popularity in recent years. Indeed, although the efficacy of IF on weight-loss compared to traditional caloric restriction (CR) diet is negligible, there is cumulating evidence that IF improves cardio-metabolic health, promotes longevity, and enhances learning and memory functioning. The key factor for the positive effects IF seems to be that after a certain amount of fasting, a metabolic switch occurs, which implies that the preferred fuel of the body and the brain shifts from glucose to fatty acids and ketone bodies. This metabolic switch induces various signalling pathways and cellular stress repair mechanisms, thereby facilitating synaptic plasticity processes occurring after the brain switched back to utilising glucose as its main fuel. Evidence from rodent studies supports the notion that hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP), an important form of synaptic plasticity, is upregulated due to prolonged IF primarily in the fed state. Crucially, inhibition of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-type glutamate receptors, alleviates the positive effects of IF on LTP and memory functioning. In conclusion, the available evidence indicates that IF induces cell repair mechanisms that promote enhanced synaptic plasticity, resulting in improved learning and memory functioning in the fed state. Nevertheless, further research is necessary to support these findings and to reveal whether these results also translate to humans.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master's Thesis / Essay) |
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| Supervisor name: | Scheurink, A.J.W. |
| Degree programme: | Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences |
| Thesis type: | Master's Thesis / Essay |
| Language: | English |
| Date Deposited: | 31 Jul 2023 07:41 |
| Last Modified: | 31 Jul 2023 07:41 |
| URI: | https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/30970 |
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