Journal of Nutrition Animal Diets/Enrichment Products...

Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Journal of Nutrition Vol. 115 No. 11 November 1985, pp. 1418-1424
Copyright
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Purchase Article
Right arrow View Shopping Cart
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Vendite, D.
Right arrow Articles by Souza, D. O.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Vendite, D.
Right arrow Articles by Souza, D. O.

Effects of Undernutrition during Suckling on Footshock Escape Behavior and on Related Neurochemical Parameters in Rats1

Deusa Vendite, Susana Wofchuk and Diogo Onofre Souza

Departamento de Bioquímica, Instituto de Biociências, Rua Sarmento Leite esq. Luiz Englert, s/n, Centro 90.000 Pôrto Alegre, RS, Brazil

The effects of undernutrition during suckling on neurochemical and behavioral parameters were investigated in adult rats. Young rats were undernourished by feeding their mothers an 8% (by wt) protein diet from delivery until weaning (d 21). Mothers of control rats were fed a 20% protein diet. After weaning, normal and undernourished rats were fed a 20% protein diet until 90–120 d of age, when the rats were subjected to footshocks of low and high intensity during escape training sessions. The memory of footshock escape learning was measured 24 h later by testing with low and high footshock intensity. Also, two neurochemical changes related to the escape training with high footshock intensity were studied: hypothalamic ß-endorphin release during the training and the increase of amino acid incorporation into protein in brain structures 4 h after training. By means of low shock intensity we observed that undernutrition during suckling causes hyperreactivity to electric shock. By means of high shock intensity we observed that undernutrition abolished the neurochemical changes caused by learning training and abolished the memory of footshock escape learning.

KEY WORDS: • undernutrition • footshock escape • learning

1 Supported by FINEP, CNPq, 5a Camara-Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS).

Manuscript received 12 September 1984. Revision accepted 5 August 1985.






Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]