Impaired hippocampal neurogenesis in vitro is modulated by dietary-related endogenous factors and associated with depression in a longitudinal ageing cohort study

Environmental factors like diet have been linked to depression and/or relapse risk in later life. This could be partially driven by the food metabolome, which communicates with the brain via the circulatory system and interacts with hippocampal neurogenesis (HN), a form of brain plasticity implicated in depression aetiology. Here, we used an in vitro model of HN to test the effects of serum samples from a longitudinal ageing cohort of 373 participants, with or without depressive symptomology. 1% participant serum was applied to human fetal hippocampal progenitor cells, and changes in HN markers were related to the occurrence of depressive symptoms across a 12-year period. These findings potentially suggest that diet and altered HN could subsequently shape the trajectory of late-life depressive symptomology.

• 1
  Reduced cell death and increased neuronal differentiation were associated with later life depressive symptomatology.
• 2
  Impairments in neuronal cell morphology in cells treated with serum from participants experiencing recurrent depressive symptoms across the 12-year period.
• 3
  Increased neuronal differentiation was modulated by increased serum levels of metabolite butyrylcarnitine and decreased glycerophospholipid, PC35:1(16:0/ 19:1), levels – both of which are closely linked to diet – all in the context of depressive symptomology.