l-Glutamine supplementation during the lactation period facilitates cortical spreading depression in well-nourished and early-malnourished rats

Abstract

The results indicate that Gln supplementation during brain development facilitates cortical spreading depression propagation, as judged by the higher CSD velocities, and this effect is not abolished by malnutrition. Data support the idea of Gln-related changes in brain excitability, during neural development.

Glutamine Randomized Studies in Early Life: The Unsolved Riddle of Experimental and Clinical Studies

“…Undernourished pups/dam supplemented with glutamine with or without zinc showed increased CA1 layer volume and hippocampal gamma-aminobutyric acid and synaptophysin levels as compared with the other groups, consistent with the trend toward increased number of neurons and protection against malnutrition-induced brain developmental impairments [72]. Also, glutamine supplementation during brain development facilitated cortical spreading depression propagation, as judged by the higher cortical spreading depression velocities, recorded on 2 cortical parietal points of the right hemisphere, an effect not abolished by malnutrition [73]. Importantly, when injected intraperitoneally in eleven-day rat pups, glutamine partially prevented the sepsis-induced fall in plasma glutamine levels and reduced the concentration of both proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines [74].…”

Differential effects of physical exercise andl-arginine on cortical spreading depression in developing rats

“…44 The CSD effects in the L-arginine-treated group could not be attributed to the gavage stress, since previous study showed no difference in the propagation velocities of the phenomenon between the animals that underwent gavage and a naïve group (these last rats were not submitted to any treatment). 11 Moreover, in order to exclude the possibility that the effects were due to a non-specific amino acid imbalance (i.e., L-arginine-independent action), one additional group was treated in the same manner with equivalent amounts of L-histidine (Fig. 3).…”

“…9 Physical exercise, nutritional status, and administration of isolated nutrients, like some amino acids such as L-arginine and glutamine, can interfere with brain development. 10,11 Intake of protein-rich foods early in life is essential for organism development, since in that period body is unable to synthesize some amino acids such as arginine. For this reason, arginine is considered as a conditionally essential amino acid.…”

The use of cortical spreading depression for studying the brain actions of antioxidants

“…26 In previous studies, we have characterized alterations in brain CSD susceptibility in animals submitted to environmental, pharmacological, and nutritional manipulations. [27][28][29][30][31][32] One of the conditions studied was the manipulation of antioxidants, which will be reviewed and discussed in the following sections.…”