Nutritional Influences on Prenatal Brain Development

Zamenhof, Stephen; Marthens, Edith van

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-609304-9.50014-0

Cited by 27 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 103 publications

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“…Interference with normal lipid deposition and myelination from malnutrition can have severe detrimental effects. Deficiency in linoleic acid, essential for lipogenesis, results in low brain weight (Zamenoff and Van Marthens 1978), and underweight babies often have poor myelination (Morgan and Gibson 1991).…”

Section: The Sequence Of Brain Development and Malnutritionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Severe malnutrition in the first month causes neural tube defects; in the second trimester, neuronal-deficit-producing gross microcephaly is the result. Malnutrition in the third trimester reduces neuroglia, dendritic arborization, and synaptic connections (Zamenoff and Van Marthens 1978). Up to the first year of postnatal life, these effects, especially inadequate myelination, will be found in conditions of low nutrition (Morgan and Gibson 1991).…”

Section: The Sequence Of Brain Development and Malnutritionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The two main approaches have been to understand its physiological etiology by means of experimental animal studies (Zamenoff and Van Marthens 1978;Zhou et al 1996) or to focus on its cognitive manifestation in humans using intelligence tests Wachs 1995). Less attention has been given to the evolutionary implications of the effects of malnutrition on the developing brain.…”

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Evolutionary and ecological aspects of early brain malnutrition in humans

Lukas

2000

Hum Nat

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This article reviews the effects of malnutrition on early brain development using data generated from animal experiments and human clinical studies. Three related processes, each with their own functional consequences, are implicated in the alteration of brain development. (1) Maternal undernutrition at the start of pregnancy results in reduced transfer of nutrients across the placenta, allowing the conservation of effort for future reproductive episodes. (2) Differential allocation to growing organs by the fetus in response to nutritional stress spares the brain to a large though still limited degree, reflecting the organ's relative contribution to survival and reproductive success. (3) Prenatal malnutrition disrupts developing neurotransmitter systems, which results in the expression of specific cognitive and affective traits. It is argued that the increasing size and therefore cost of the brain, in conjunction with increasing ecological instability and marginality, reinforced selection for maternally controlled growth suppression of offspring, reallocation of organ growth rates by offspring, and behavioral changes related to development of neurotransmitter systems.

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Section: The Sequence Of Brain Development and Malnutritionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Sequence Of Brain Development and Malnutritionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Evolutionary and ecological aspects of early brain malnutrition in humans

Lukas

2000

Hum Nat

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“…So there are three levels of evidence of genetic activity in Table 2.2: protein expression or synthesis, mRNA activity, and genetic activity itself. A difference in number of brain cells as a consequence of environmental influences, as in the Mack and Mack (1992), and Zamenhof and van Marthens (1978) studies, means that DNA activity has been turned on by the environmental stimulation. In the case of the more recent of these two studies, Mack and Mack were able to measure fos activity as well as count the number of cortical cells, whereas in the earlier study, Zamenhof & van Marthens were able only to count the number of cerebral cells as evidence of DNA activity.…”

Section: Normally Occurring Environmental Influences On Gene Activitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Normally Occurring Environmental and Behavioral Influences on Gene Activity

Gottlieb¹

2010

Handbook of Developmental Science, Behavior, and Genetics

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The central dogma of molecular biology holds that ''information'' flows from the genes to the structure of the proteins that the genes bring about through the formula DNA ! RNA ! Protein. In this view, a set of master genes activates the DNA necessary to produce the appropriate proteins that the organism needs during development. In contrast to this view, probabilistic epigenesis holds that necessarily there are signals from the internal and external environment that activate DNA to produce the appropriate proteins. To support this view, a substantial body of evidence is reviewed showing that external environmental influences on gene activation are normally occurring events in a large variety of organisms, including humans. This demonstrates how genes and environments work together to produce functional organisms, thus extending the author's model of probabilistic epigenesis.The new discipline of the genetics of behaviour, to judge by some recent books, is caught in the dogmas of Mendelian genetics without regard to developments in modem genetics during the last ten years, and to modern experimental approaches to the genetic roots of behaviour. Books on the subject usually begin with an account of the principles of Mendelian genetics. The material on behaviour deals mainly with mutated animals and their observed changes in behaviour. That is exactly what genetic principles predict. If an important mutation should not be followed by a change in behaviour -then geneticists would have to worry about the validity of the principles.

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“…spaces alloted, enzyme concentrations. mitotic potentials, tropic factors [9,18] and other regulatory mechanisms, fetal age, as well as the total amount of nutrients available [16] and the environmental disturbances [15], Of particular interest is the distribution (partition) of nutrients between fetal brain and fetal body, since it is this overall distribu tion that determines the final extent of prena tal brain growth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution of Nutrients between Fetal Brain and Body during Rat Development

Zamenhof¹,

Marthens²

1982

Neonatology

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During prenatal development, the distribution of nutrients between brain and body is influenced by many factors. Fetal and neonatal ratios may serve as indices of the final outcome: brain weight/body weight (Rw), brain DNA/body DNA (R_DNA) and brain protein/body protein (Rprot; similar to Rw). These ratios decrease with fetal age but this dependence on age disappears towards term. Within one age, these ratios show considerable variability (up to 14%), from litter to litter, and within litters. The variability is not due to variation in water contents (< 1%). An extensive study of 2,089 normal newborns revealed that 7.5% had Rw values significantly higher than the mean for the population. Of these, 35% had normal body weights but significantly higher brain weights. Thus, they do not represent previously studied cases of general (brain and body) overdevelopment; rather, they represent cases of favorable brain versus body growth, i.e. distribution of nutrients between brain and body that is more favorable for the brain. Such a favorable distribution may be caused by maternal factors if it affects entire litters (3% of all affected) or by fetal factors, if it affects only individuals within a litter (49%).

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Nutritional Influences on Prenatal Brain Development

Cited by 27 publications

References 103 publications

Evolutionary and ecological aspects of early brain malnutrition in humans

Evolutionary and ecological aspects of early brain malnutrition in humans

Normally Occurring Environmental and Behavioral Influences on Gene Activity

Distribution of Nutrients between Fetal Brain and Body during Rat Development

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