Effect of Maternal Administration of Edible Bird's Nest on the Learning and Memory Abilities of Suckling Offspring in Mice.

Yong Xie,Hongliang Zeng,Hui Xu,Yi Zhang,Baodong Zheng,Qunyan Fan,Zhiji Huang

doi:10.1155/2018/7697261

Yong Xie, Hongliang Zeng + Show 5 more

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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.

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Human intelligence is a complex genetic trait that rests on the interactions between a multitude of genes and certain environmental factors experienced by parents
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 min lactation and pregnancy periods, the levels in the higherdose group of edible bird’s nest (EBN) or the sialic acid group were stronger than those in the negative control group (Figure 2). These results indicated that maternal administration of EBN during pregnancy or lactation period can improve Free and Oligosaccharide-Binding Sialic Acid (FSA) in the milk, which will benefit the lactational offspring
The levels of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) in CA1, CA2, and CA3 regions in hippocampi of cubs were able to be enhanced after the intake of EBN by the maternal mice, while administration of sialic acid in the maternal mice may help to increase the levels of BDNF in CA3 and DG regions. These results demonstrated that EBN administrated in maternal mice can increase hippocampal BDNF production of the offspring and the BDNF variation trend paralleled the increase in their learning performance

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Introduction

Human intelligence is a complex genetic trait that rests on the interactions between a multitude of genes and certain environmental factors (e.g., diet, drugs, and stress) experienced by parents. The brain development in human is a very complicated process, during which the infancy period is recognized as the most important one. In this period, breast milk is the primary nutrition source and the ideal food that infants can obtain [1]. The reported bioactivities and nutritional value of EBN included the potential for improving the abilities of mitogenic response and elevating the antivirus or lectin-binding activity and so on [7]. To date, this tonic food is still popular

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