Early weaning alters redox status in the hippocampus and hypothalamus of rat pups.

Early weaning alters redox status in the hippocampus and hypothalamus of rat pups. Int J Dev Neurosci. 2020 Jul 03;: Authors: Rodrigues KDS, Klein CP, August PM, Dos Santos BG, Hözer RM, Maurmann RM, Crestani MS, Hoppe JB, Matté C Abstract Exposure to environmental factors can program the metabolism, conferring resistance or increasing the risk to chronic diseases development in childhood and adulthood. In this sense, lactation is an important period in this window of development. Herein, we investigated the effect of early weaning on neurochemical and behavioral changes in offspring at weaning and adulthood. Female and male pups were divided into 4 groups: 1. Control weaning (weaning on the PND21, pups were kept with the biological mother); 2. Early Weaning Bromocriptine group (EWB) (pharmacological weaning on PND16); 3. Early Weaning Cross-Fostering group (EWCF) (pups housed with a foster mother on PND16 up to PND21); 4. Early Weaning Without Care group (EWWC) (weaning on PND16, maternal separation). Weight control of pups were recorded from postnatal day 16 to 59. On the 21st day, part of the pups were euthanized and the hippocampus and hypothalamus were removed for biochemical evaluation. The remaining pups were submitted to behavioral tests on the 60th postnatal day. Early weaning reduced the pups' body weight, in sex-dependent way. At 60 days of age, male pups of EWCF and EWWC groups have lower body weight compared to control...
Source: International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience - Category: Neuroscience Authors: Tags: Int J Dev Neurosci Source Type: research