Early protein malnutrition negatively impacts physical growth and neurological reflexes and evokes anxiety and depressive-like behaviors

Belluscio, Laura María; Berardino, Bruno Gabriel; Ferroni, Nadina Micol; Ceruti, Julieta María; Cánepa, Eduardo T.

doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2014.02.051

Cited by 83 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…In a mouse model, moderate global food restriction from mid-pregnancy until PN7 led to anxiety-like behaviour in female offspring, and impaired recognition memory in male offspring [25]. Maternal protein restriction during pregnancy and lactation also led to enhanced anxiety-related behaviours in adult offspring of both sexes [26]. Importantly, maternal micronutrient deficiencies have also been shown to program altered behavioural outcomes and cognitive deficits in offspring.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal hypomagnesemia alters hippocampal NMDAR subunit expression and programs anxiety-like behaviour in adult offspring

Schlegel

Spiers

Cullen

et al. 2017

Behavioural Brain Research

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This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.  Maternal Mg deficiency reduced hippocampal GluN1 and GluN2A in male offspring.  Female offspring of Mg-deficient dams had increased GluN1, GluN2A and GluN2B.  Maternal Mg deficiency increased hippocampal GluN2B:GluN2A in adult offspring. AbstractIt is well established that maternal undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies can lead to altered development and behaviour in offspring. However, few studies have explored the implications of maternal Mg deficiency and programmed behavioural and neurological outcomes in offspring. We used a model of Mg deficiency (prior to and during pregnancy and lactation) in CD1 mice to investigate if maternal Mg deficiency programmed changes in behaviour and NMDAR subunit expression in offspring. Hippocampal tissue was collected at postnatal day 2 (PN2), PN8, PN21 and 6 months, and protein expression of NMDAR subunits GluN1, GluN2A and GluN2B was determined. At 6 months of age, offspring were subject to behavioural tasks testing aspects of anxiety-like behaviour, memory, and neophobia. Maternal hypomagnesemia was associated with increased GluN1, GluN2A and GluN2B subunit expression in female offspring at 6 months, but decreased GluN1 and GluN2A expression in males. The GluN2B:GluN2A expression ratio was increased in both sexes. Male (but not female) offspring from Mg-deficient dams showed anxiety-like behaviour, with reduced head dips (Suok test), and reduced exploration of open arms (elevated plus maze). Both male and female offspring from Mg-deficient dams also showed impaired recognition memory (novel object test). These findings suggest that maternal Mg deficiency can result in behavioural deficits in adult life, and that these changes may be related to alterations in hippocampal NMDA receptor expression.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal hypomagnesemia alters hippocampal NMDAR subunit expression and programs anxiety-like behaviour in adult offspring

Schlegel

Spiers

Cullen

et al. 2017

Behavioural Brain Research

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“…Overall, the additive effect of hypoxia and rotation on body weight may be explained by 1) a decreased nutritional output to the pups due to rotation, 2) stress induced by changes in feeding behavior and/or metabolism and 3) changes in maternal care due to stressful effects of rotation on the mother, none of which are mutually exclusive and may all contribute partially or completely to decreased pup body weight. Certainly, handling, removing dams from pups (albeit typically for extended periods of time), changes in nutrition and maternal care, have all been shown to individually and collectively influence pup growth and brain development [4, 6, 8, 11, 15, 28, 32, 36, 42]. However, the relative contribution of these factors to changes observed in body and brain weight remains to be determined.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contribution of maternal oxygenic state to the effects of chronic postnatal hypoxia on mouse body and brain development

Salmaso

Dominguez

Kravitz

et al. 2015

Neuroscience Letters

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1–2% of live births are to very low birth weight, premature infants that often show a developmental trajectory plagued with neurological sequelae including ventriculomegaly and significant decreases in cortical volume. We are able to recapitulate these sequelae using a mouse model of hypoxia where early postnatal pups are exposed to chronic hypoxia for one week. However, because the timing of hypoxic exposure is so early in development, dams and pups are housed together in the hypoxic chamber, and therefore dams are also subjected to the same hypoxic conditions as the pups. To understand the relative contribution of hypoxia directly on the pups as opposed to the indirect contribution mediated by the effects of hypoxia and potential alterations in the dam’s care of the pups, we examined whether reducing the dams exposure to hypoxia may significantly increase pup outcomes on measures that we have found consistently changed immediately following chronic hypoxia exposure. To achieve this, we rotated dams between normoxic and hypoxic conditions, leaving the litters untouched in their respective conditions and compared gross anatomical measures of normoxic and hypoxic pups with non-rotating or rotating mothers. As we expected, hypoxic-rearing decreased pup body weight, brain weight and cortical volume. Reducing the dam’s exposure to hypoxic conditions actually amplified the effects of hypoxia on body weight, such that hypoxic pups with rotating mothers showed significantly less growth. Interestingly, rotation of hypoxic mothers did not have the same deleterious effect on brain weight, suggesting the presence of compensatory mechanisms conserving brain weight and development even under extremely low body weight conditions. The factors that potentially contribute to these compensatory changes remain to be determined, however, nutrition, pup feeding/metabolism, or changes in maternal care are important candidates, acting either together or independently to change pup body and brain development.

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“…In the absence of infection, protein-energy malnutrition has an adverse effect on behavior compared with nutrient sufficiency in rats. 114,115 Additional studies show that behaviors of undernourished dams and their offspring are negatively impacted, 115,116 linking diet and microbiota (by proxy) to brain function. Metabolism of food by the host (and perhaps by the mother) has the potential to affect host genetics.…”

Section: Environmental Enteropathy and Genetic Predispositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early-life enteric infections: relation between chronic systemic inflammation and poor cognition in children

et al. 2016

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Early protein malnutrition negatively impacts physical growth and neurological reflexes and evokes anxiety and depressive-like behaviors

Cited by 83 publications

References 52 publications

Maternal hypomagnesemia alters hippocampal NMDAR subunit expression and programs anxiety-like behaviour in adult offspring

Maternal hypomagnesemia alters hippocampal NMDAR subunit expression and programs anxiety-like behaviour in adult offspring

Contribution of maternal oxygenic state to the effects of chronic postnatal hypoxia on mouse body and brain development

Early-life enteric infections: relation between chronic systemic inflammation and poor cognition in children

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