Dietary Oligofructose Alone or in Combination with 2'-Fucosyllactose Differentially Improves Recognition Memory and Hippocampal mRNA Expression.

Stephen A Fleming,Jian Yan,Sharon M Donovan,Jonas Hauser,Sylviane Metairon,Ryan N Dilger,Pascal Steiner,Austin T Mudd

doi:10.3390/nu12072131

Stephen A Fleming, Jian Yan + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12072131

Copy DOI

Abstract

Mounting evidence suggests that dietary oligosaccharides promote brain development. This study assessed the capacity of oligofructose (OF) alone or in combination with 2′-fucosyllactose (2′-FL) to alter recognition memory, structural brain development, and hippocampal gene expression. Beginning on postnatal day (PND) 2, male pigs received one of three milk replacers formulated to contain OF, OF + 2′-FL, or no oligosaccharides (CON). Pigs were tested on the novel object recognition task using delays of 1 or 48 h at PND 22. At PND 32–33, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedures were used to assess structural brain development and hippocampal tissue was collected for analysis of mRNA expression. Pigs that consumed the OF diet demonstrated increased recognition memory after a 1 h delay, whereas those consuming diets containing OF + 2′-FL displayed increased recognition memory after a 48 h delay. Pigs fed OF or OF + 2′-FL exhibited a larger relative volume of the olfactory bulbs compared with CON pigs. Provision of OF or OF + 2′-FL altered gene expression related to dopaminergic, GABAergic, cholinergic, cell adhesion, and chromatin remodeling processes. Collectively, these data indicate that dietary OF and OF + 2′-FL differentially improve cognitive performance and affect olfactory bulb structural development and hippocampal gene expression.

Highlights

While their ability to stimulate gut bacteria and prebiotic activity has been known for some time, it is becoming increasingly evident that oligosaccharides (OS) act through unknown mechanisms to stimulate brain development
Given that all animals were fed on a by-weight basis, daily body weight data suggest that pigs across treatments consumed similar amounts of milk replacer per day
After a 1 h delay, the OF group demonstrated more frequent visits to the novel object compared with the CON group (p = 0.022), whereas the control group maintained a high rate of exploration of the novel object throughout the trial (p = 0.045)

Summary

Introduction

While their ability to stimulate gut bacteria and prebiotic activity has been known for some time, it is becoming increasingly evident that oligosaccharides (OS) act through unknown mechanisms to stimulate brain development. The concentration and diversity of these human milk oligosaccharides (HMO) is unmatched by other mammals [10], and these OS are specific to milk as opposed to non-milk OS such as OF. This has significant implications for infants consuming bovine milk-based infant formulas, as bovine milk contains up to a hundred times fewer and less diverse OS [9]. Evidence from rodent studies suggests that HMO such as sialyllactose and 20 -FL may improve response to stress [12]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion