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 HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Diaz, J. Articles by Stamper, C. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Diaz, J. Articles by Stamper, C.

Artificial Rearing of Rat Pups with a Protein-Enriched Formula^1,2,

Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195

Neonatal Long-Evans hooded rat pups were assigned to one of three groups: 1) pups normally reared, 2) pups implanted with intragastric cannulas and artificially reared with a common milk replacement formula, 3) pups implanted with intragastric cannulas and artificially reared with a protein-enriched milk formula. Daily body weights were recorded, as were the ontogeny of various reflexes. On day 18, the animals were behaviorally tested and then killed. There were no differences among the three groups in daily body weights, nor in the ontogeny of reflexive behavior. There were no differences in the wet weights of caudal brain sections, but the normally reared animals had significantly larger rostral brain sections than either artificially reared group. While cerebella of normally reared animals were significantly larger than those of the two artificially reared groups, there was a significant trend towards more normal cerebellar weights with the addition of protein in the formula of artificially reared animals. Behavioral tests indicated that the animals artificially reared have significantly different behavior than normally reared animals. However, compared to animals artificially reared using a common milk formula, animals artificially reared with additional protein in their formula behave more like normally reared animals.

KEY WORDS: • artificially reared rats • protein-enriched milk formula • open field test • gastrostomy

¹ Supported by a grant from the Graduale School Research Fund of the University of Washington; and by a grant from the Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Institute of the University of Washington.

² A preliminary report of this study was presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, Cincinnati, OH. 1980. Diaz. J., Stamper, C., Moore, E., Schacher, J. & Petracca, F. (1980) Enriched protein intake during early brain growth of artificially reared rats. Neuroaci. Abst., 6, 326.

Manuscript received 11 September 1981.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S J Henare, D J Mellor, R G Lentle, and P J Moughan An appraisal of the strengths and weaknesses of newborn and juvenile rat models for researching gastrointestinal development Lab Anim, July 1, 2008; 42(3): 231 - 245. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]