EARLY PROTEIN RESTRICTION INDUCES REWARDING DEFICITS IN ADULT OFFSPRING: A KEY ROLE IN ADDICTION AND ANHEDONIA.

VALDOMERO A; GUTIÉRREZ MC; PERONDI MC; CUADRA GR; ORSINGHER OA

Mar del Plata

Simposio; Reunión Anual de Sociedades de Biociencia; 2023

Early malnutrition (i.e., maternal and child undernutrition) and substance abuse are serious problems worldwide with a high socioeconomic and health impact. In this regard, the figures related to these major injuries are alarming in our country. According to the World HealthOrganization, global trends reflect a disturbing increase in the use of illicit substances. It has been proposed that early onset and prolonged use of drugs of abuse is more likely among youth from communities that have a low life quality, no emotional support, and low educational aspirations. All of these factors are frequently associated with poverty and malnutrition. It is widely known that thecentral nervous system (CNS) is particularly vulnerable to nutritional deficiencies during its development. Substantial evidence indicates that protein undernutrition, coinciding with the CNS ontogenesis process, induce anatomical, neurochemical, and behavioral alterationspersisting throughout life, that cannot be reversed after prolonged periods of nutritional recovery. Indeed, retrospective studies in humans suggest that protein restriction during pregnancy and early life increases the risk of developing psychiatric disorders later in life. In line with this, the findings of our laboratory showed that animals which suffered perinatal protein undernutrition are vulnerable to acquire addictive behaviors and molecular changes during withdrawal in adulthood. These changes are strongly related to craving and drug seeking. Moreover, the nutritional insult facilitates the onset of anhedonia, proposed as a predictor of increased drug craving leading to relapse. This talk will be focused on the neurobiological mechanisms underlying behavioral abnormality in undernourished animals, highlighting the molecular and morphological neuroadaptive changes in the brain reward circuit induced by nutritional injury.