BDNF and Anxiety: In addition, males, but not females, showed increased caloric intake and reduction of the hypothalamic LepR induced by the diet, suggesting a central leptin resistance, while females showed central adaptation to the adiponectin signal in response to both PNS and HFD; (3) in males, HFD resulted in increased anxiety in the EPM, which was buffered in those subjects previously exposed to PNS; (4) in females, HFD led to higher total Bdnf mRNA expression in the hypothalamus and ventral hippocampus, an indirect indication of greater plasticity in response to metabolic challenges in this sex.