Effect of Pre-natal Protein Deprivation on Neonatal Cerebellar Development in vitro

Abstract

MOST biochemical and morphological studies of the effects of nutritional deprivation on the mammalian nervous system have dealt with quantitative undernutrition during the first 21 postnatal days. Findings have included a reduction in brain cellularity1–4; a delay in neuronal and glial differentiation3; and a decrease in the lipids3,3–7, lamellae numbers8 and stainability3,5,9 of the myelin sheath. Such studies, even of those regions of the nervous system developing maximally post-natally, may be criticized as enabling the anlage, however undifferentiated, to develop normally until birth. I have, therefore, studied in a tissue culture system the morphogenetic effects of pre-natal maternal protein deprivation on the growth and development of the cerebellum, a region of the brain developing maximally after birth. Cultures of neonatal mouse cerebellum from mothers deprived of protein were analysed in a nutritionally normal environment to determine the effect of pre-natal protein restriction on the post-natal developmental potential of the nervous system.