College of Pharmacy, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou 350122, China.
College of Food Science and Technology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China.
Neural Plast. 2018 Mar 22;2018:7697261. doi: 10.1155/2018/7697261. eCollection 2018.
Although human brains continue developing throughout the underage developmental stages, the infancy period is considered the most important one for the whole life. It has been reported that sialic acid from edible bird's nest (EBN) can facilitate the development of brain and intelligence. In this study, by oral administration of EBN to female mice during the pregnancy or lactation period, the effects of EBN on the levels of sialic acid in mouse milk were determined using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Furthermore, the spatial learning performances of their offspring were assessed using the Morris water maze test. Additionally, cerebral malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in cubs nursed by the female mice given the EBN homogenate were examined, while BDNF immunohistochemical staining and neuron count in hippocampi were investigated as well. These results showed that administration with EBN in maternal mice during pregnancy or lactation period can improve the learning and memory functions in their offspring, possibly by increasing the activities of SOD and ChAT and, at the meantime, decreasing the levels of MDA and activities of AChE. Moreover, BDNF levels for CA1, CA2, and CA3 regions in hippocampi and the numbers of dyed neurons in CA1, CA2, CA3, and DG regions among the offspring were significantly enhanced due to the intake of EBN by the maternal mice. We concluded that maternal administration of EBN during the pregnancy and lactation periods can improve the spatial learning performances in the offspring.
尽管人类大脑在未成年发育阶段仍在继续发育，但婴儿期被认为是整个人生中最重要的时期。据报道，燕窝中的唾液酸（EBN）可以促进大脑和智力的发育。在这项研究中，通过在怀孕或哺乳期向雌性小鼠口服 EBN，使用高效液相色谱法（HPLC）测定 EBN 对小鼠乳中唾液酸水平的影响。此外，使用 Morris 水迷宫测试评估其后代的空间学习表现。此外，还检查了由接受 EBN 匀浆的雌性小鼠哺乳的幼崽的大脑丙二醛（MDA）、超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）、胆碱乙酰转移酶（ChAT）和乙酰胆碱酯酶（AChE）水平，同时还研究了海马中的 BDNF 免疫组织化学染色和神经元计数。这些结果表明，在怀孕或哺乳期向母鼠给予 EBN 可以改善其后代的学习和记忆功能，这可能是通过增加 SOD 和 ChAT 的活性，同时降低 MDA 水平和 AChE 的活性来实现的。此外，由于母鼠摄入 EBN，海马体 CA1、CA2 和 CA3 区域的 BDNF 水平以及 CA1、CA2、CA3 和 DG 区域中染色神经元的数量显著增加。我们得出结论，在怀孕和哺乳期给予母鼠 EBN 可以提高后代的空间学习表现。
