Shereen F. Behairy

Objectives: To investigate the effects of naringenin on pathological, molecular, and behavioural alterations in a cuprizone-induced mouse model of demyelination, with particular emphasis on peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) gamma expression, NOD-like receptor family pyrin domain-containing 3 immunoreactivity, and molecular markers of myelin integrity, inflammation, and apoptosis. Methods: Mice were allocated to four groups: control, naringenin alone, cuprizone, and cuprizone plus naringenin. Demyelination was induced with cuprizone-containing chow, and naringenin was administered orally for three weeks. Motor performance and biochemical, molecular, and histological changes were evaluated using established behavioural, immunological, molecular, and histological techniques. Key findings: Naringenin improved motor deficits, increased myelin basic protein expression, reduced tumour necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-1 beta, cyclooxygenase-2, prostaglandin E2, and nuclear factor kappa B p65 levels, and shifted apoptotic signalling towards cell survival by decreasing Bcl-2-associated X and increasing B-cell lymphoma 2 expression. Naringenin also increased PPAR gamma expression while reducing NOD-like receptor family pyrin domain-containing 3 immunoreactivity and suppressor of cytokine signalling 3 expression. Conclusions: Naringenin attenuated cuprizone-induced brain inflammatory responses, apoptosis, and myelin injury, with findings consistent with modulation of PPAR gamma expression and NOD-like receptor family pyrin domain-containing 3-associated neuroinflammatory responses. These findings support further preclinical evaluation of naringenin for multiple sclerosis.

Many recent discoveries highlight the existence of a robust bidirectional link between nutrition and psychological processes. Despite these developments, the systematic and formalized study of this connection is only beginning to be undertaken, and nutritional psychology is not yet considered a formal area of study within the psychological sciences. This paper defines the scope of nutritional psychology through 6 core areas of conceptualization, each informed by an interdisciplinary and growing body of evidence spanning the psychological and nutritional sciences. These include the diet-conative/affective, diet-cognitive, diet-sensory/perception, diet-interoceptive, diet-psychosocial, and diet-environmental relationships. Introducing these conceptualizations contributes to the development of innovative interdisciplinary language, method, and conceptualization of the diet-mental health relationship within nutritional psychology.