Perinatal protein malnutrition consequences are partially reverse by environmental enrichment.

MARIELA CHERTOFF; EDUARDO T. CÁNEPA; BERARDINO BRUNO; CAROLINA ALBERCA

Buenos Aires

Simposio; The Role of Glia in Health and Disease of the Nervous System: Clinical and Basic Science Walking Together; 2017

Poor nutrition during early period of life results in improper development of the brain. Previous results of our group demonstrate a delay on development parameters such as ear lobe detachment, opening of auditory canal and sound, tactile and visual reflexes. In addition, protein malnutrition promotes anxious-like behavior on littermates and also in dams also. However, the molecular mechanisms involved on this process are poorly understood. The experimental design includes 2 groups of CF-1 dam mice: normal nourished (20% protein) and low-protein malnourished (8% of protein) from 3 days before mating to the end of lactation. We focus our study on the consequences of poor protein nutrition at molecular level on stress-related molecules, at cellular level on myelination level and at behavioral level . In order to evaluate how post-weaning environment modulate these, animals of both sexes from each diet were housing during 5 weeks after weaning in two different environments (4 groups: 1-normal environment (4 animals/cage); 2-enriched environment (8 animals in a large cage with toys). We evaluate by qPCR the changes on expression of glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and MeCP2 at weaning and after 5 weeks on different environments. GR expression is reduced on malnourished females at weaning. In addition, MeCP2 decrease on hippocampus of malnourished female pups but not in males. We also observed a reduction on the thickness of myelin at corpus callosum. Environmental enrichment partially reverts these findings.In conclusion, maternal malnutrition affects brain development with long-lasting behavioral, cellular and molecular consequences which can be modulated after weaning by social and sensorial stimulation.