Effect of growth restriction on early brain development: an MRI quantitative assessment

BARBEITO - ANDRÉS J, BERNAL V, GLEISER PM, HALLGRÍMSSON B, GONZALEZ PN

Buenos Aires

Congreso; 2nd Congress of the Federation of Latin American and Caribbean Neuroscience Societies; 2016

Intrauterinegrowth restriction (IUGR) is a condition where fetus reaches suboptimal valuesfor body weight and other parameters due to a chronic reduction of oxygen andnutrients. Under these adverse conditions, brain growth is relatively preservedin comparison to other organs and tissues, although it is less clear howdifferent brain substructures are affected. Here, we experimentally reproducedIUGR using a maternal undernutrition model in mice. Samples consisted of adultmice whose mothers were fed either control, low calorie-protein or low proteindiets during pregnancy and lactation. Magnetic resonance images of brains wereobtained and different cortical and subcortical regions of interest (ROIs) weresegmented. Absolute and relative ROIs volumes were compared betweenexperimental groups and their allometric patterns were analyzed to test ifrestricted groups follow the pattern found among small and large brains incontrols. Results indicated that brain volume had a general reduction in bothrestriction treatments. The magnitude of reduction in volume varied acrossbrain regions, suggesting that smaller brains in restricted groups are not anisometrically-scaled version of the control brains. Those ROIs that resultedmore affected by maternal malnutrition are characterized by a slow rate ofprenatal growth, while structures displaying early rapid increase of sizeremain mostly unaffected. Some exceptions to this pattern could be linked toadaptive mechanisms that unfold during pregnancy.