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Moderate Developmental undernutrition: Impact on growth and cognitive function in youth and old age
Citation:
GILBERT, M. E., R. C. MACPHAIL, J. E. BALDWIN, V. C. MOSER, AND N. CHERNOFF. Moderate Developmental undernutrition: Impact on growth and cognitive function in youth and old age. NEUROTOXICOLOGY AND TERATOLOGY. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, 32(3):362-372, (2010).
Impact/Purpose:
Body weight is an endpoint that is evaluated in many areas oftoxicology as well as other active research areas. Although body weight appears to be a simple endpoint it is in reality quite complicated and determined by a variety of factors. Further, the recent epidemiological papers by Barker showing the influence of dietary restriction on the eventual weight and health of the adult human has spurred a renewed interest in understanding how the developmental environment influences the adult state. As treatment with toxicological agents during the gestational and postnatal periods often influences the body weight of the adult Gilbert and colleagues examine how under nutrition during various periods of early development impact body weight and neurobehavioral function throughout the lifespan. Such data can serve to aid other investigators needing to determine how body weight changes induced by various toxicological developmental treatments influence endpoints of interest. This study was competently conducted and examined 4 different conditions of under nutrition, namely (a) no under nutrition during gestation and the pre-weaning period. (b) under nutrition of the dam throughout gestation by limiting food intake and of the pups during the pre-weaning period by increasing the number of pups to be nursed. (c) ad lib food during gestation & under nutrition during the pre-weaning period and (4) under-nutrition during gestation and no under-nutrition during the pre-weaning period. Although, gestational under-nutrition resulted in body weight reductions at birth only offspring SUbjected to under-nutrition during the pre-weaning period showed life long reductions in body weight relative to offspring not exposed to under-nutrition at any stage of early development. None of the under nutrition conditions resulted in obese animals at any life stage. This work clearly shows that developmental under nutrition is not always a risk factor for obesity during the adolescent and adult periods; further, it illustrates the complexity of the mechanisms controlling body weight throughout life.
Description:
Low weight at birth is a common adverse developmental effect reported in human populations and animal toxicity studies. Epidemiological evidence links low birth weight to a syndrome ofmetabolic changes that increase later risk for obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. The present experiment used a four-treatment cross-over experimental design to evaluate the selective impact of early nutritional deficiency on metabolism and brain function across the lifespan ofmale Sprague Dawley rats. Undernutrition was induced prenatally by restricting maternal food intake to 50% of ad lib from GD3 to birth. Postnatal undernutrition was induced by fostering pups at birth to naive dams in large (n=16) undernourished litters as opposed to small (n=8) control litters. Body weights were monitored in the early neonatal period, in early adulthood beginning at 5 months and through to senescence at 21 months ofage. In contrast to recent reports, no increase in the prevalence of obesity was seen in animals born to food restricted dams and reared under ad lib feeding conditions. Behavioral tests of locomotion, learning and memory were performed in young, middle-aged, and aged animals. No effects ofpre or post-natal nutritional history were detected. Age-dependent reductions in locomotor activity were detected, as well as deficits in spatial learning as measured in the Morris water maze and in context fear conditioning. These findings indicate dissimilar fetal and neonatal nutritional environments do not universally lead to obesity or neurological dysfunction in adulthood.
