Co-exposure of metals and high fat diet causes aging like neuropathological changes in non-aged mice brain

•Metals and high fat diet (HFD) exposure causes enhanced aging in non-aged mice.•Metals and HFD consumption impairs cholinergic system, learning and memory.•Metals and HFD exposure causes neurodegeneration in non-aged animals. In recent decades, humans’ exposure to metals have increased due to industrialization and socioeconomic trends have caused increased high fat diet (HFD) consumption. Concurrently, metals and HFD are risk factors for health, and in particular, the cognitive impairment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of metals and HFD treatment on neuropathological changes in young mice brain, and compare with untreated young mice (8–11 weeks = 2–3 months) and aged mice (12 months). Mice were given 300 ppm of Aluminum (Al), Copper (Cu), Lead (Pb) and Cadmium (Cd) in drinking water and HFD feed (40% of the feed weight was animal fat) for 42 days. Metals+HFD treated mice were subjected to behavior tests, such as, Morris water maze, elevated plus maze, fear condition and contextual memory to evaluate memory levels. Spatial memory (p