Laboratory of Nutrition and Behavior, FFCLRP, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil.
Nutr Neurosci. 2010 Dec;13(6):274-82. doi: 10.1179/147683010X12611460764769.
Protein malnutrition induces structural, neurochemical and functional changes in the central nervous system leading to alterations in cognitive and behavioral development of rats. The aim of this work was to investigate the effects of postnatal protein malnutrition on learning and memory tasks. Previously malnourished (6% protein) and well-nourished rats (16% protein) were tested in three experiments: working memory tasks in the Morris water maze (Experiment I), recognition memory of objects (Experiment II), and working memory in the water T-maze (Experiment III). The results showed higher escape latencies in malnourished animals in Experiment I, lower recognition indexes of malnourished animals in Experiment II, and no differences due to diet in Experiment III. It is suggested that protein malnutrition imposed on early life of rats can produce impairments on both working memory in the Morris maze and recognition memory in the open field tests.
蛋白质营养不良会导致中枢神经系统的结构、神经化学和功能改变，从而影响大鼠的认知和行为发育。本研究旨在探讨产后蛋白质营养不良对学习和记忆任务的影响。此前，处于营养不良（6%蛋白质）和营养良好（16%蛋白质）状态的大鼠分别在三个实验中进行了测试：莫里斯水迷宫中的工作记忆任务（实验 I）、物体识别记忆（实验 II）和水 T 迷宫中的工作记忆（实验 III）。结果显示，实验 I 中营养不良组的逃避潜伏期更高，实验 II 中营养不良组的识别指数更低，而实验 III 中两组之间没有差异。因此，提示在大鼠生命早期施加的蛋白质营养不良可能导致在莫里斯水迷宫中的工作记忆和旷场测试中的识别记忆受损。
