Effects of prenatal protein malnutrition on the electrical cerebral activity during development

Abstract

Early protein restriction during the prenatal period has significant repercussions on the ontogeny and development of the central nervous system. The present study investigates whether early prenatal protein malnutrition could alter the electrical cerebral activity of the progeny. We used Sprague–Dawley female rats of 200 g randomly divided into three groups: a control group that received a diet with 25% of the protein content (lactalbumin), the experimental group, that received a diet with 6% of the protein content and the rehabilitated group that initially received a diet with 6% of the protein content, then switched to a diet with 25% of the protein content after the weaning period (P20D) up to 60 days of life (P60D). Reduction of the protein content from 25% to 6% of lactalbumin in the diet of pregnant rats produces impairment in the electrical cerebral activity in the progeny at P20D and at P60D. The power spectral analysis for each one of the electroencephalograms revealed that prenatal protein malnutrition in rats produced a significant reduction of the alpha (8–13 Hz) and the beta bands (13–30 Hz) and a significant increase of the theta (4–8 Hz), and delta bands (1–4 Hz), at two different stages of life (P20D and P60D). Similar results were obtained for the rehabilitated group. These results indicate that early malnutrition in life affects the ontogeny of the electrical cerebral activity. This insult probably disrupts the establishment of cortical neural circuits during the critical period of brain development. The rehabilitation period did not revert the impairment in the electrical cerebral activity produced by malnutrition. We used one-way ANOVA analysis, followed by Tukey test (* p < 0.001).