Recent 2020 alumna Karina Glushchak and current junior Alex Ficarro recently published the article, “High-Fat Diet and Acute Stress Have Different Effects on Object Preference Tests in Rats during Adolescence and Adulthood” in the Behavioural Brain Research journal with Dr. Tim Schoenfeld. Both neuroscience majors, Glushchak and Ficarro performed this research as part of the Honors program and Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship in the Sciences (SURFS) program.
The research studied the effects of a high-fat diet and stress on long-term memory formation in rats that were either developmentally adolescents or adults. They found that a high-fat diet produces stronger behavior impairments during adolescence and these impairments only partially recover in adulthood, suggesting that diet during the adolescent period potentially has profound and long-term effects on the developing brain.
