RESUMO
NEW FINDINGS: What is the central question of this study? In the present study, a reproducible model of maternal voluntary physical activity was developed to evaluate the adaptive response of physical activity by attenuating the effects of maternal undernutrition on physical features, reflex ontogeny and growth trajectory of offspring during development. What is the main finding and its importance? Maternal physical activity may induce neuronal maturation of sensorimotor connections impacting on the patterns of locomotor activity in malnourished offspring. Thus, physical activity should be considered as a therapeutic means of countering the effects of maternal undernutrition, by providing a useful strategy for enhancing the neuronal activity of children born to mothers who experience a restricted diet during pregnancy. This study evaluated the effects of maternal voluntary physical activity during pregnancy and lactation on somatic growth (SG), reflex ontogeny (RO) and locomotor activity (LA) of rats whose mothers were protein restricted. Virgin female Wistar rats were divided into the following six groups: control, normal protein (C-NP, n = 4); control, low protein (C-LP, n = 4); inactive, normal protein (I-NP, n = 8); inactive, low protein (I-LP, n = 7); very active, normal protein (VA-NP, n = 8); and very active, low protein (VA-LP, n = 6). Voluntary physical activity was recorded daily in dams. The LP groups were fed an 8% casein diet, whereas control groups were fed a 17% casein diet during pregnancy and lactation. Offspring were evaluated in terms of SG (body weight and length, latero-lateral skull axis and anteroposterior head axis) and RO (palmar grasp, righting, free-fall righting, negative geotaxis, cliff avoidance, auditory startle response and vibrissa placing). The LA was evaluated at 23, 45 and 60 days old in the open field. Voluntary physical activity was reduced during pregnancy and lactation independent of the maternal diet. Pups from LP dams showed delayed SG, reflex maturation and patterns of LA when compared with control pups. The C-LP and I-LP pups showed a delayed SG, RO and LA. Pups from VA-LP mothers showed no delay in SG and RO and presented a faster development of patterns of LA. Maternal voluntary physical activity attenuated the effects of LP diet on indicators of neurodevelopment and patterns of LA of offspring.
Assuntos
Sistema Nervoso/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Transtornos do Neurodesenvolvimento/prevenção & controle , Condicionamento Físico Animal/métodos , Efeitos Tardios da Exposição Pré-Natal , Desnutrição Proteico-Calórica/fisiopatologia , Fatores Etários , Fenômenos Fisiológicos da Nutrição Animal , Animais , Comportamento Animal , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Feminino , Idade Gestacional , Lactação , Fenômenos Fisiológicos da Nutrição Materna , Atividade Motora , Transtornos do Neurodesenvolvimento/etiologia , Transtornos do Neurodesenvolvimento/fisiopatologia , Estado Nutricional , Gravidez , Desnutrição Proteico-Calórica/complicações , Desnutrição Proteico-Calórica/psicologia , Ratos Wistar , VoliçãoRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Early childhood malnutrition is associated with cognitive and behavioral impairment during childhood and adolescence, but studies in adulthood are limited. METHODS: Using the NEO-PI-R personality inventory, we compared personality profiles at 37-43 years of age (M 40.3 years, SD 1.9) of Barbadian adults who had experienced moderate-to-severe protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) in the first year of life (n = 77) with healthy controls, who were former classmates of the index cases and were matched for age, gender, and handedness in childhood (n = 57). The previously malnourished participants had been rehabilitated, with good health and nutrition documented up to 12 years of age, and study participants were followed longitudinally from childhood to 40 years. Group comparisons were adjusted for childhood and adolescent standard of living, with and without correcting for IQ. RESULTS: At the broad domain or factor level, previously malnourished participants had higher scores on Neuroticism and lower scores on Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness than did the healthy controls. At the subdomain or facet level, previously malnourished participants reported more anxiety, vulnerability, shyness and lowered sociability, less intellectual curiosity, greater suspiciousness of others, a more egocentric than altruistic orientation, and a lowered sense of efficacy or competence. CONCLUSIONS: Malnutrition limited to the first year of life with good health and nutrition documented up to 12 years of age is associated with a significant overrepresentation of adult personality trait scores outside of the average range. This outcome has important implications for a variety of important life and mental health outcomes.
Assuntos
Envelhecimento/fisiologia , Inventário de Personalidade , Personalidade/fisiologia , Desnutrição Proteico-Calórica/complicações , Desnutrição Proteico-Calórica/fisiopatologia , Adolescente , Adulto , Barbados , Criança , Pré-Escolar , Feminino , Humanos , Lactente , Estudos Longitudinais , Masculino , Desnutrição Proteico-Calórica/psicologia , AutoeficáciaRESUMO
Infantile malnutrition is known to be associated with cognitive and behavioral impairment during childhood and adolescence. Data pertaining to longer-term effects on behavioral outcomes in adulthood are limited. In this study, we report associations between infantile malnutrition and attention problems in adults at midlife. Attention problems were assessed by the Conners Adult ADHD Rating Scales (CAARS) and the Conners Continuous Performance Test (CPT) in 145 Barbadian adults (aged 37-43 y) who had been followed longitudinally since childhood. Previously malnourished participants (n = 80) had experienced moderate to severe protein-energy malnutrition in the first year of life and were successfully rehabilitated thereafter. They were compared with healthy adults (n = 65) who were former classmates of the index cases and who had been matched for age, sex, and handedness in childhood. Multiple regression analyses showed persisting effects of childhood malnutrition on both the CAARS and the CPT, independent of effects of household standard of living assessed in childhood. The malnutrition effect on the CAARS ratings was independent of IQ, whereas this effect was attenuated for the CPT after adjustment for IQ. Teacher-reported attention problems in childhood predicted attention problems in adulthood, indicating continuity over the life span. Infantile malnutrition may have long-term effects on attentional processes nearly 40 y after the episode, even with excellent long-term nutritional rehabilitation and independent of socioeconomic conditions in childhood and adolescence. This finding has major public health implications for populations exposed to early childhood malnutrition.
Assuntos
Transtorno do Deficit de Atenção com Hiperatividade/etiologia , Transtornos da Nutrição do Lactente/fisiopatologia , Desnutrição Proteico-Calórica/fisiopatologia , Transtorno do Deficit de Atenção com Hiperatividade/complicações , Barbados , Transtornos Cognitivos/complicações , Transtornos Cognitivos/etiologia , Estudos de Coortes , Manual Diagnóstico e Estatístico de Transtornos Mentais , Feminino , Humanos , Lactente , Transtornos da Nutrição do Lactente/dietoterapia , Transtornos da Nutrição do Lactente/psicologia , Transtornos da Nutrição do Lactente/reabilitação , Estudos Longitudinais , Masculino , Desnutrição Proteico-Calórica/dietoterapia , Desnutrição Proteico-Calórica/psicologia , Desnutrição Proteico-Calórica/reabilitação , Escalas de Graduação Psiquiátrica , Análise de Regressão , Autorrelato , Índice de Gravidade de DoençaRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: Depressive symptoms are elevated in adolescents who experienced significant malnutrition early in life. Early malnutrition can also have a significant impact on cognitive functioning, presumably because of the adverse impact of the malnutrition on the very young brain. In the context of a developmental cascade model, we tested the hypothesis that the association between early malnutrition and adolescent depressive symptoms is mediated by the cognitive impairment that ensues from the malnutrition. METHODS: We evaluated Barbadian youth (N = 57) hospitalized for moderate to severe protein-energy malnutrition in the first year of life and healthy controls (N = 60) longitudinally. The primary hypothesis was tested by multiple regression models. RESULTS: After adjusting for covariates, early malnutrition predicted both cognitive functioning in childhood (IQ, p < .001; attention problems, p < .01; Common Entrance Examination, p < .01; and adolescent depressive symptoms, p < .05). Childhood cognitive functioning mediated the association between early malnutrition and depressive symptoms in adolescence (p < .001). Maternal depressive symptoms were a significant but independent predictor of adolescent depressive symptoms (p < .05). CONCLUSIONS: Cognitive compromise in childhood accounts indirectly for elevated depressive symptoms in previously malnourished adolescents, consistent with a developmental cascade model. The direct link between malnutrition and depressive symptoms in adolescence is small.
Assuntos
Desenvolvimento do Adolescente , Cognição , Depressão/etiologia , Desnutrição Proteico-Calórica/complicações , Adolescente , Fatores Etários , Barbados/epidemiologia , Estudos de Casos e Controles , Criança , Pré-Escolar , Depressão/epidemiologia , Feminino , Seguimentos , Humanos , Masculino , Desnutrição Proteico-Calórica/psicologia , Psicologia do Adolescente , Fatores de Risco , Fatores de TempoRESUMO
The present study determined whether protein-calorie malnutrition alters anxiety-like behavior in weanling and young adult, male and female malnourished rats. On the day of birth, litters of Wistar rats were divided into Control (C) and Malnutrition (M) groups. In the C group, litters were fed by dams receiving ad libitum lab chow, whereas in the M group, litters were fed by dams receiving 40% of the total amount of the diet offered to dams in the C group. After weaning (PND21) until PND50, animals received the same food as theirs mothers (i.e., ad libitum access in the C group and 40% of the C group food in the M group). On PND21 and PND50, independent C (male [CM] and female [CF]) and M (male [MM] and female [MF]) groups were exposed to the elevated T-maze. The time taken to withdraw four paws from this arm was recorded (baseline latency [BL]). The same measurement was repeated twice at 30s intervals (avoidance trial 1 [AT1] and avoidance 2 [AT2]). The cutoff time in each trial was 300s. ANOVA indicated a four-way age×diet×sex×trials interaction. Post hoc comparisons revealed that PND50 rats had a lower BL and AT1 latency compared with PND21 rats. Training increased both AT1 and AT2 latencies compared with BL in both the CM and CF groups. Weanling malnourished rats exhibited reduced anxiety-like behavior and young adult male rats presented less anxiety-like behavior than young adult female rats in this experimental model.
Assuntos
Ansiedade/fisiopatologia , Aprendizagem em Labirinto/fisiologia , Desnutrição Proteico-Calórica/psicologia , Fatores Etários , Animais , Animais Recém-Nascidos , Peso Corporal , Feminino , Masculino , Ratos , Ratos Wistar , Caracteres SexuaisRESUMO
BACKGROUND: We examined the prevalence of depressive symptoms in Barbadian youth with histories of infantile malnutrition and in a healthy comparison group and the extent to which the effect of malnutrition was mediated/moderated by maternal depression. METHODS: Depressive symptoms were assessed using a 20-item scale administered to youths (11-17 years of age) who had experienced an episode of protein-energy malnutrition (marasmus or kwashiorkor) during the first year of life and in a comparison group of healthy youths without a history of malnutrition. Their mothers completed the same questionnaire on the same test on three occasions when their children were 5-17 years of age at 2-5-year intervals. RESULTS: The prevalence of depressive symptoms was elevated among previously malnourished youth relative to healthy comparison children (p < .001). When youth depression scores were subjected to a longitudinal multiple regression analysis, adjusting for the effect of maternal depressive symptoms, significant effects due to the history of early childhood malnutrition remained and were not discernibly attenuated from an unadjusted analysis. We also found significant independent effects of maternal depressive symptoms on youth depressive symptoms. CONCLUSION: Early childhood malnutrition contributed independently to depressive symptoms in youths who experienced a significant episode of malnutrition in the first year of life. This relationship was not mediated or moderated by the effects of maternal depression. Whether the later vulnerability to depression is a direct effect of the episode of malnutrition and related conditions early in life or whether it is mediated by the more proximal neurobehavioral effects of the malnutrition remains to be determined.
Assuntos
População Negra/psicologia , Transtorno Depressivo/epidemiologia , Transtorno Depressivo/psicologia , Desnutrição Proteico-Calórica/epidemiologia , Desnutrição Proteico-Calórica/psicologia , População Branca/psicologia , Adolescente , Barbados , Criança , Filho de Pais com Deficiência/psicologia , Pré-Escolar , Estudos Transversais , Transtorno Depressivo/diagnóstico , Feminino , Humanos , Lactente , Estudos Longitudinais , Masculino , Mães/psicologia , Inventário de Personalidade/estatística & dados numéricos , Desnutrição Proteico-Calórica/diagnóstico , Psicometria , Fatores de RiscoRESUMO
Severe malnutrition, both protein-energy and micronutrient deficiency, results in decreased activity, but the results regarding mild-to-moderate malnutrition are equivocal. Our objective in this investigation was to describe the activity and exploratory behavior of Mexican infants and describe the relationship among nutritional status, activity, and exploration in this population at high risk for mild-to-moderate micronutrient deficiency, but at low risk for severe malnutrition. The participants were infants, 4-12 mo old, of low socioeconomic status from 3 states in southern Mexico. We measured anthropometrics using standard techniques. We measured hemoglobin (Hb) concentration in the field and adjusted values for altitude before analysis. We measured activity and exploration by direct observation during 15 min of individual play in a novel environment. Cluster analysis generated mutually exclusive activity clusters and exploration clusters based on patterns of bodily movement and exploratory behavior, respectively. We categorized the clusters as higher or lower activity or higher or lower exploration. A higher Hb concentration and height-for-age Z-score (HAZ) significantly increased the odds of being in the high-activity cluster. Iron deficiency, stunting, and wasting significantly decreased the odds of being in the high-activity cluster. Higher HAZ and weight-for-age Z-score significantly increased the odds of being in a higher exploration cluster. In Mexican infants at risk for mild-to-moderate micronutrient deficiency but at low risk of severe malnutrition, some indicators of nutritional status were related to increased activity and exploration.
Assuntos
Anemia Ferropriva/complicações , Desenvolvimento Infantil , Transtornos do Crescimento/etiologia , Comportamento do Lactente , Micronutrientes/deficiência , Desnutrição Proteico-Calórica/psicologia , Análise por Conglomerados , Feminino , Hemoglobinas/metabolismo , Humanos , Lactente , Masculino , México , Estado Nutricional , Desnutrição Proteico-Calórica/complicações , Desnutrição Proteico-Calórica/fisiopatologia , Classe SocialRESUMO
The learned helplessness (LH) paradigm is characterized by learning deficits resulting from inescapable events. The aims of the present study were to determine if protein-calorie malnutrition (PCM) alters learning deficits induced by LH and if the neurochemical changes induced by malnutrition alter the reactivity to treatment with GABA-ergic and serotonergic drugs during LH. Well-nourished (W) and PCM Wistar rats (61 days old) were exposed or not to inescapable shocks (IS) and treated with gepirone (GEP, 0.0-7.5 mg/kg, intraperitoneally, N = 128) or chlordiazepoxide (0.0-7.5 mg/kg, intraperitoneally, N = 128) 72 h later, 30 min before the test session (30 trials of escape learning). The results showed that rats exposed to IS had higher escape latency than non-exposed rats (12.6 ± 2.2 vs 4.4 ± 0.8 s) and that malnutrition increased learning impairment produced by LH. GEP increased the escape latency of W animals exposed or non-exposed to IS, but did not affect the response of PCM animals, while chlordiazepoxide reduced the escape deficit of both W and PCM rats. The data suggest that PCM animals were more sensitive to the impairment produced by LH and that PCM led to neurochemical changes in the serotonergic system, resulting in hyporeactivity to the anxiogenic effects of GEP in the LH paradigm.
Assuntos
Animais , Masculino , Ratos , Aprendizagem da Esquiva/efeitos dos fármacos , Moduladores GABAérgicos/farmacologia , Desamparo Aprendido , Desnutrição Proteico-Calórica/tratamento farmacológico , Pirimidinas/farmacologia , Agonistas do Receptor de Serotonina/farmacologia , Análise de Variância , Peso Corporal , Comportamento Animal/efeitos dos fármacos , Comportamento Animal/fisiologia , Clordiazepóxido/farmacologia , Clordiazepóxido/uso terapêutico , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Reação de Fuga/efeitos dos fármacos , Reação de Fuga/fisiologia , Moduladores GABAérgicos/uso terapêutico , Deficiências da Aprendizagem/etiologia , Desnutrição Proteico-Calórica/fisiopatologia , Desnutrição Proteico-Calórica/psicologia , Pirimidinas/uso terapêutico , Ratos Wistar , Agonistas do Receptor de Serotonina/uso terapêuticoRESUMO
The learned helplessness (LH) paradigm is characterized by learning deficits resulting from inescapable events. The aims of the present study were to determine if protein-calorie malnutrition (PCM) alters learning deficits induced by LH and if the neurochemical changes induced by malnutrition alter the reactivity to treatment with GABA-ergic and serotonergic drugs during LH. Well-nourished (W) and PCM Wistar rats (61 days old) were exposed or not to inescapable shocks (IS) and treated with gepirone (GEP, 0.0-7.5 mg/kg, intraperitoneally, N = 128) or chlordiazepoxide (0.0-7.5 mg/kg, intraperitoneally, N = 128) 72 h later, 30 min before the test session (30 trials of escape learning). The results showed that rats exposed to IS had higher escape latency than non-exposed rats (12.6 +/- 2.2 vs 4.4 +/- 0.8 s) and that malnutrition increased learning impairment produced by LH. GEP increased the escape latency of W animals exposed or non-exposed to IS, but did not affect the response of PCM animals, while chlordiazepoxide reduced the escape deficit of both W and PCM rats. The data suggest that PCM animals were more sensitive to the impairment produced by LH and that PCM led to neurochemical changes in the serotonergic system, resulting in hyporeactivity to the anxiogenic effects of GEP in the LH paradigm.
Assuntos
Aprendizagem da Esquiva/efeitos dos fármacos , Moduladores GABAérgicos/farmacologia , Desamparo Aprendido , Desnutrição Proteico-Calórica/tratamento farmacológico , Pirimidinas/farmacologia , Agonistas do Receptor de Serotonina/farmacologia , Análise de Variância , Animais , Comportamento Animal/efeitos dos fármacos , Comportamento Animal/fisiologia , Peso Corporal , Clordiazepóxido/farmacologia , Clordiazepóxido/uso terapêutico , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Reação de Fuga/efeitos dos fármacos , Reação de Fuga/fisiologia , Moduladores GABAérgicos/uso terapêutico , Deficiências da Aprendizagem/etiologia , Masculino , Desnutrição Proteico-Calórica/fisiopatologia , Desnutrição Proteico-Calórica/psicologia , Pirimidinas/uso terapêutico , Ratos , Ratos Wistar , Agonistas do Receptor de Serotonina/uso terapêuticoRESUMO
Given that protein malnutrition induces structural, neurochemical and functional changes in the CNS, the present study aimed to investigate the effects of different early periods of protein malnutrition on the behavior and reactivity to diazepam (DZ) in a model of anxiety: the fear-potentiated startle (FPS). Male Wistar rats (n = 110) from well-nourished (16 %-protein) or malnourished (6%-protein) litters were distributed in five different groups: W (well-nourished), M7 (malnourished for 7-days, since day 0), M14 (14-days), M21 (21-days) and M28 (28-days). The results obtained in FPS revealed that malnourished-animals acquired the startle response, irrespective of the time they were exposed to the diet. Besides, DZ reduced the startle amplitude in the noise-alone and light-noise trials. The data concerning the total freezing time showed that the expression of this response was affected by malnutrition and varied in accordance with the findings of previous studies in which malnutrition procedures was imposed for long periods (more than 50 days). Therefore, we suggest that early protein malnutrition: (a) did not produce deficits in the associative learning process of these animals in the FPS, and (b) decreased freezing time in the FPS and produce hyporeactivity to the effects of DZ in rats malnourished for 21 days or more, indicating alterations in the GABAergic neurotransmitter system.