Abstract
Contrary to the known benefits from a moderate dietary reduction during adulthood on life span and health, maternal nutrient reduction during pregnancy is supposed to affect the developing brain, probably resulting in impaired brain structure and function throughout life. Decreased fetal nutrition delivery is widespread in both developing and developed countries, caused by poverty and natural disasters, but also due to maternal dieting, teenage pregnancy, pregnancy in women over 35 years of age, placental insufficiency, or multiples. Compromised development of fetal cerebral structures was already shown in our baboon model of moderate maternal nutrient reduction. The present study was designed to follow-up and evaluate the effects of moderate maternal nutrient reduction on individual brain aging in the baboon during young adulthood (4–7 years; human equivalent 14–24 years), applying a novel, non-invasive neuroimaging aging biomarker. The study reveals premature brain aging of +2.7 years (p < 0.01) in the female baboon exposed to fetal undernutrition. The effects of moderate maternal nutrient reduction on individual brain aging occurred in the absence of fetal growth restriction or marked maternal weight reduction at birth, which stresses the significance of early nutritional conditions in life-long developmental programming. This non-invasive MRI biomarker allows further longitudinal in vivo tracking of individual brain aging trajectories to assess the life-long effects of developmental and environmental influences in programming paradigms, aiding preventive and curative treatments on cerebral atrophy in experimental animal models and humans.
Highlights
Moderate dietary restriction during adulthood appears to the lengthen lifespan (Fontana et al, 2010), dietary restriction during prenatal life has been clearly demonstrated to have the opposite effect, i.e., being related to an altered, suboptimal development of structure and function of multiple organ systems, a shortened lifespan, and increased prevalence for chronic diseases in later life
Evaluation of in vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed that absolute gray matter (GM) volume, absolute white matter (WM) volume, absolute cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), as well as total intracranial volume (TIV) were significantly higher in male compared to female subjects (Table 1)
Absolute CSF volume increased with age only in females
Summary
Moderate dietary restriction during adulthood appears to the lengthen lifespan (Fontana et al, 2010), dietary restriction during prenatal life has been clearly demonstrated to have the opposite effect, i.e., being related to an altered, suboptimal development of structure and function of multiple organ systems, a shortened lifespan, and increased prevalence for chronic diseases in later life (Entringer et al, 2012; Schuurmans and Kurrasch, 2013; Tarry-Adkins and Ozanne, 2014; BrainAGE in Non-human PrimatesRando and Simmons, 2015; Zambrano et al, 2015), as well as permanent impairments in brain structure and function (Morgane et al, 1993; Morley and Lucas, 1997; Olness, 2003; Grantham-McGregor and Baker-Henningham, 2005; Wainwright and Colombo, 2006; Walker et al, 2007; Benton and ILSI Europe, 2008; Antonow-Schlorke et al, 2011; Rodriguez et al, 2012; Keenan et al, 2013; Muller et al, 2014). Moderate dietary restriction during adulthood appears to the lengthen lifespan (Fontana et al, 2010), dietary restriction during prenatal life has been clearly demonstrated to have the opposite effect, i.e., being related to an altered, suboptimal development of structure and function of multiple organ systems, a shortened lifespan, and increased prevalence for chronic diseases in later life The baboon is an old world primate, which is the closest available species to relate to human programming in terms of reproduction, developmental physiology, gene function, or brain structure (Vandeberg et al, 2009; Atkinson et al, 2015)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call