Dietary supplementation of female rats with elk velvet antler improves physical and neurological development of offspring

Milk fat globule membrane supplementation to obese rats during pregnancy and lactation promotes neurodevelopment in offspring via modulating gut microbiota

Pre-pregnancy obesity and high-fat diet (HFD) during pregnancy and lactation are associated with neurodevelopmental delay in offspring. This study aimed to investigate whether milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) supplementation in obese dams could promote neurodevelopment in offspring. Obese female rats induced by HFD were supplemented with MFGM during pregnancy and lactation. Maternal HFD exposure significantly delayed the maturation of neurological reflexes and inhibited neurogenesis in offspring, which were significantly recovered by maternal MFGM supplementation. Gut microbiota analysis revealed that MFGM supplementation modulated the diversity and composition of gut microbiota in offspring. The abundance of pro-inflammatory bacteria such as Escherichia shigella and Enterococcus were down-regulated, and the abundance of bacteria with anti-inflammatory and anti-obesity functions, such as Akkermansia and Lactobacillus were up-regulated. Furthermore, MFGM alleviated neuroinflammation by decreasing the levels of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) and pro-inflammatory cytokines in the circulation and brain, as well as inhibiting the activation of microglia. Spearman’s correlation analysis suggested that there existed a correlation between gut microbiota and inflammation-related indexes. In conclusion, maternal MFGM supplementation promotes neurodevelopment partly via modulating gut microbiota in offspring.

Prenatal Stress Impairs Postnatal Learning and Memory Development via Disturbance of the cGMP-PKG Pathway and Oxidative Phosphorylation in the Hippocampus of Rats

Clinical and animal studies have found that prenatal stress can lead to pathological changes in embryos and fetuses. However, the mechanisms through which this occurs have not been made clear. In the present study, pregnant rats were subjected to chronic psychological stress during gestational days using an improved communication box system, and the changes in behavioral performance and proteins in the hippocampus of offspring were analyzed. It was found that prenatal stress caused postnatal growth retardation and impairment in spatial learning and memory. Furthermore, in isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation-based proteomics analyses, 158 significantly differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were found between the two groups. Further analyses showed that these DEPs are involved in different molecular function categories and participate in several biological processes, such as energy metabolism, learning or memory, and synaptic plasticity. Moreover, the enrichment of pathways showed that the learning and memory impairment was primarily connected with the cyclic guanosine monophosphate–protein kinase G (cGMP–PKG) pathway and oxidative phosphorylation. At the same time, the cGMP level and the expression of PKG protein were significantly decreased, and the neuronal mitochondria appeared to have a swollen and irregular shape in the hippocampus of offspring of stressed rats. These results suggest that the chronic psychological stress that pregnant rats were subjected to during gestational days may have impaired the spatial learning and memory of offspring. This affected the hippocampal oxidative phosphorylation and inhibited the cGMP–PKG pathway.

The effects of a maternal advanced glycation end product-rich diet on somatic features, reflex ontogeny and metabolic parameters of offspring mice

Maternal exposure to a Western type diet during pregnancy might predispose the offspring to manifestation of metabolic and behavioral disturbances in later life. The Western type diet contains large amounts of advanced glycation end products (AGEs). In humans and experimental rodents, the intake of an AGE-rich diet (AGE-RD) negatively affected glucose homeostasis, and initiated the production of reactive oxygen species. Rats consuming the AGE-RD presented changes in behavior. It remains unclear whether maternal intake of the AGE-RD might affect developmental plasticity in offspring. We examined early somatic (weight, incisor eruption, ear unfolding, and eye opening) and neuromotor development, oxidative status, insulin sensitivity (HOMA index) and locomotor activity assessed in PhenoTyper cages in the offspring of mice fed during pregnancy with either the AGE-RD (25% bread crusts/75% control chow) or control chow. Until weaning, the somatic development of offspring did not differ between the two dietary groups. The AGE-RD offspring manifested physiological reflexes (auditory startle, eye lid, ear twitch and righting reflexes) earlier. As young adults, the male offspring of the AGE-RD dams were heavier and less insulin sensitive compared with their control counterparts. The AGE-RD offspring showed higher locomotor activity during the active phase. Our data indicate that the maternal AGE-RD during pregnancy might accelerate the maturation of reflexes in offspring, predispose the male progeny to weight gain and affect their glucose homeostasis. These effects manifest without the direct consumption of the AGE-RD by offspring. Further work is needed to determine the mechanisms by which the maternal AGE-RD affects neurobehavioral pathways in offspring, as well as sex differences in adverse metabolic responses.

Beneficial effects of Jiawei Shenqi-wan and treadmill training on deficits associated with neonatal hypoxic-ischemia in rats

Jiawei Shenqi-wan (JSQW), which comprises Shenqi-wan and two additional medicinal herbs, has been widely used for the treatment of various growth impairments, including cerebral palsy. In the present study, JSQW was administered to hypoxic-ischemic Sprague-Dawley rats that underwent treadmill training from 4-7 weeks of age to examine the beneficial effects of combined JSQW and treadmill therapy. Behavioral examinations were performed and a significant improvement in cylinder test performance was observed in rats treated with treadmill training compared with hypoxic-ischemia rats (P<0.05), as well as a significant improvement in passive avoidance test performance for rats treated with JSQW (P<0.05). The thickness of the corpus callosum and the integrated optical density (IOD) of myelin basic protein (MBP) were significantly increased by treatment with treadmill therapy alone (P<0.01 and P<0.001, respectively) and treatment with both JSQW and treadmill significantly increased the IOD of MBP compared with hypoxic-ischemia rats (P<0.001). Western blot analysis revealed that the expression of neuronal nuclei (NeuN) and doublecortin (Dcx) significantly decreased (P<0.001 and P<0.05, respectively) and MBP expression markedly decreased in the ipsilateral subventricular zone of hypoxic-ischemic rats compared with the control group; however, the expression of NeuN was significantly recovered by treatment with both JSQW and treadmill training (P<0.05). Furthermore, Dcx expression was significantly recovered by treatment with JSQW (P<0.05), and MBP expression was significantly restored by treatment with treadmill training (P<0.01). In the immunohistochemical analyses, a significant increase in the number of bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) positive cells in this region was observed in treadmill-treated rats (P<0.05), whereas significant increases in the number of Brdu/Dcx or NeuN or glial fibrillary acidic protein double-positive cells were observed only in the group co-treated with JSQW and treadmill (P<0.01, P<0.05 and P<0.001, respectively). These results suggest that JSQW and treadmill training may contribute to behavior recovery following hypoxic-ischemia, and JSQW treatment was particularly effective in promoting memory function via enhancing the differentiation of neuronal progenitor cells. The results of the present study therefore suggest that JSQW may provide an additional treatment option for functional recovery with treadmill training in cerebral palsy.

The Effects of Elk Velvet Antler Dietary Supplementation on Physical Growth and Bone Development in Growing Rats

Elk velvet antler (EVA) has been used in traditional Oriental medicine for centuries to promote general health; however, little evidence for its effect on bone development is available. We investigated the effects of lifelong exposure of Wistar rats to a diet containing 10% EVA on physical growth and bone development. Measurements included weekly body weights, blood chemistry and kidney and testis/ovary indices (sacrificed at 5, 9, or 16 weeks of age), and bone traits of the femur bones by peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT). Mean body weights were higher in the EVA group at 4–8 weeks in males and at 5 weeks of age in females. The kidney indices were greater in EVA dietary supplemented male rats at 5 and 16 weeks of age, in females at 16 weeks of age, and testis/ovary indices at 5 weeks of age. The femoral length was increased in both males and females at 5 weeks, and several pQCT-measured parameters had increased in EVA males and females. The activity of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) increased in EVA group while the content of calcium and phosphorus did not differ among groups. Our results seem to support a role for dietary supplementation of EVA on growth and bone development in this model.