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Malnutrition Induces an Increase in Intermediate Filament Protein Content of Rat Cerebral Cortex¹

Departamento de Bioquimica, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Rua Sarmento Leite 500, 90050 Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil

Wistar rats were fed a normal protein (25% casein) or an isoenergetic low protein (8% casein) diet from the day of giving birth until pups were weaned. Some litters were killed at weaning; others (both normal and malnourished animals) received the 25% protein diet until d 90 when they were killed. Intermediate filament (IF) preparations were obtained by extraction of the cerebral cortex with a high salt PBS solution containing 1% Triton X-100. The pellet contained the bulk of the cytoskeleton proteins from tissue, identified as the 150- and 68-kDa subunits of neurofilaments (NF-M and NF-L, respectively), the 66-kDa associated protein, the 57-kDa intermediate filament-like protein, and the 50-kDa glial fibrillary acidic protein. Intermediate filament-enriched fractions from control and malnourished rats at both d 21 and 90 were scanned following two-dimensional gel electrophoresis to determine the effects of postnatal malnutrition on the intermediate filament protein content. The results indicated that postnatal malnutrition imposed during the brain growth spurt period did not alter the expression of IF proteins of the cerebral cortex in 21-d-old rats, but increased the expression of NF-L and NF-M proteins in adult rats.

KEY WORDS: • protein malnutrition • intermediate filament • cerebral cortex • brain • rats

¹ Research supported by Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnológico, Pró-Reitoria de Pesquisa e Pos-Graduaçào da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Coordenaçào de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior and Fundaçào de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul.

Manuscript received 16 July 1990. Revision accepted 18 March 1991.