University of Granada, Granada, Spain; Simón Bolívar University, Caracas, Venezuela.
Nutr Neurosci. 2013 Nov;16(6):269-74. doi: 10.1179/1476830513Y.0000000055. Epub 2013 Feb 5.
Choline is an essential nutrient required for early development. Previous studies have shown that prenatal choline availability influences adult memory abilities depending on the medial temporal lobe integrity. The relevance of prenatal choline availability on object recognition memory was assessed in adult Wistar rats. Three groups of pregnant Wistar rats were fed from E12 to E18 with choline-deficient (0 g/kg choline chloride), standard (1.1 g/kg choline chloride), or choline-supplemented (5 g/kg choline chloride) diets. The offspring was cross-fostered to rat dams fed a standard diet during pregnancy and tested at the age of 3 months in an object recognition memory task applying retention tests 24 and 48 hours after acquisition. Although no significant differences have been found in the performance of the three groups during the first retention test, the supplemented group exhibited improved memory compared with both the standard and the deficient group in the second retention test, 48 hours after acquisition. In addition, at the second retention test the deficient group did not differ from chance. Taken together, the results support the notion of a long-lasting beneficial effect of prenatal choline supplementation on object recognition memory which is evident when the rats reach adulthood. The results are discussed in terms of their relevance for improving the understanding of the cholinergic involvement in object recognition memory and the implications of the importance of maternal diet for lifelong cognitive abilities.
胆碱是早期发育所必需的营养物质。先前的研究表明，产前胆碱的可用性取决于内侧颞叶的完整性，从而影响成年后的记忆能力。本研究评估了产前胆碱可用性对成年 Wistar 大鼠物体识别记忆的影响。三组怀孕的 Wistar 大鼠从 E12 到 E18 喂食胆碱缺乏（0 g/kg 氯化胆碱）、标准（1.1 g/kg 氯化胆碱）或胆碱补充（5 g/kg 氯化胆碱）饮食。后代被交叉寄养给在怀孕期间喂食标准饮食的大鼠母鼠，并在 3 个月大时进行物体识别记忆任务测试，在获得后 24 和 48 小时进行保留测试。尽管在第一次保留测试中，三组的表现没有差异，但在第二次保留测试中，获得后 48 小时，补充组与标准组和缺乏组相比，记忆能力得到了改善。此外，在第二次保留测试中，缺乏组与随机组没有差异。总的来说，这些结果支持了产前胆碱补充对物体识别记忆具有持久有益影响的观点，当大鼠达到成年期时，这种影响更为明显。研究结果从胆碱能参与物体识别记忆的角度以及母体饮食对终身认知能力的重要性方面进行了讨论。
