School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington, Loughborough LE125RD, United Kingdom.
Physiol Behav. 2011 May 3;103(2):164-72. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2011.01.008. Epub 2011 Jan 15.
Contemporary trends in obesity mean that research into whether unbalanced diets could impact on behavioural traits became increasingly important. The timing of exposure to obesity is particularly important, as sensitive periods during development have been identified where dietary extremes play a critical role in determining adult risk of physiological dysfunction. To this end, female Wistar rats were fed on chow or cafeteria diet (CD) for 8 weeks from weaning until mating. Half of the mated animals within each group were crossed-over to the alternative diet. This generated four treatment groups, differing in their pre-gestational and gestational diets. After birth, offspring of dams from each of the 4 pregnancy groups were further divided into groups, either being fed chow or CD throughout lactation. Anxiety-related behaviour and exploration in the offspring were tested in the Elevated Plus Maze (EMP) and the Open Field (OF) at 10 weeks of age. Maternal obesity significantly reduced the EPM locomotor activity in male and female offspring and grooming in males. Lactational CD had an anxiolytic effect in male offspring as shown in the EPM (increased entries into and more time on open arms) and the OF (shorter latency to enter the centre). In both sexes, lactational CD reduced grooming upon exposure to the EPM and the OF. Post mortem analysis revealed a stimulant effect of lactational CD on adipose tissue growth. The present study demonstrates that pre-gestational, gestational and lactational maternal CD programme behaviour in the offspring with lactational CD reducing anxiety in the male offspring.
肥胖症的当代趋势意味着，研究不平衡的饮食是否会影响行为特征变得越来越重要。暴露于肥胖的时间尤其重要，因为已经确定了发育过程中的敏感时期，在这些时期，饮食极端在决定成年人生理功能障碍的风险方面起着关键作用。为此，雌性 Wistar 大鼠从断奶到交配期间，分别用标准饲料或自助餐饮食（CD）喂养 8 周。每个组中一半的交配动物交叉到另一种饮食。这产生了四个治疗组，它们的孕前和孕期饮食不同。在出生后，来自每个妊娠组的母鼠的后代进一步分为两组，在哺乳期全程给予标准饲料或 CD。在 10 周龄时，通过高架十字迷宫（EMP）和旷场（OF）测试后代的焦虑相关行为和探索行为。母体肥胖显著降低了雄性和雌性后代的 EPM 运动活动和雄性的梳理行为。哺乳期 CD 在 EPM（增加进入开放臂的次数和更多时间在开放臂上）和 OF（进入中心的潜伏期更短）中对雄性后代具有抗焦虑作用。在两性中，哺乳期 CD 减少了 EPM 和 OF 暴露时的梳理行为。死后分析显示，哺乳期 CD 对脂肪组织生长有刺激作用。本研究表明，孕前、孕期和哺乳期的母体 CD 会对后代的行为进行编程，而哺乳期 CD 会降低雄性后代的焦虑感。
