QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Prohaska, J. R. Articles by Jasinski, R. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Prohaska, J. R. Articles by Jasinski, R.

Effect of Zinc Deficiency from Day 18 of Gestation and/or during Lactation on the Development of Some Rat Brain Enzymes^1,2,

Department of Biochemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824

Maternal zinc deprivation from day 18 of gestation and/or throughout lactation was produced in order to study the development of certain brain enzymes in neonatal rats. Gestational-lactational zinc restriction resulted in reductions in pup body, whole brain, and cerebellar weights at birth and throughout the suckling period when compared with pups from dams fed a diet adequate in zinc yet restricted in the amount consumed. The concentration of glutamic dehydrogenase (GDH) was unchanged, and no differences in the concentration of brain zinc were detected. A significant reduction in 2',3'-cyclic nucleotide 3'-phosphohydrolase (CNP) was found, which implied a delay in myelination. Zinc restriction only in the lactational period resulted in smaller changes. Body, brain, and cerebellar weights in deficient pups were lower during the suckling period when compared with pups from ad libitum-fed dams fed a zinc-adequate diet. These differences were not reversible after 7 weeks of consuming a zinc-adequate diet. However, no differences in brain or cerebellar weights, in the concentration of zinc, or the levels of the cerebellar enzymes superoxide dismutase, GDH, or CNP were found between the deficient pups and pups from dams pair-fed a diet adequate in zinc. The level of serum zinc, however, was one-half of that of the pair-fed group at 21 days of age.

KEY WORDS: • zinc • brain • enzymes • development • deficiency

¹ This work was supported in part by Grant AM 10209, U.S. Public Health Service, and the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station as Journal Article no. 6829.

² A preliminary report of a portion of this study was presented at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Annual Meeting, Atlantic City, NJ, 1974. Federation Proc. 33, 2767. (Abstr.)

³ Predoctoral trainee of the National Science Foundation.

Manuscript received 7 June 1974.