Prolonged protein deprivation, but not food restriction, affects parvalbumin-containing interneurons in the dentate gyrus of adult rats

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2013

Authors

Armando Cardoso (Author) FMUP; Joao Paulo Castro (Author) Other; Pedro Alberto Pereira (Author) FMUP; Jose Paulo Andrade (Author) FMUP

Journal

Title: Brain Research

Vol. 1522

Pages: 22-30

ISSN: 0006-8993

Publisher: Elsevier

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 8 Citations

Scopus - 9 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Medical and Health sciences > Basic medicine

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-006-94P

DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2013.05.034

Abstract (EN): Several studies have demonstrated the vulnerability of the hippocampal formation to malnutrition. In this study, we compared the effects of food restriction and protein malnutrition in the total number of neurons of the dentate gyrus and in the number of parvalbumin-immunoreactive (PV-IR) interneurons, which are related to the control of calcium homeostasis and fine tuning of the hippocampal circuits. Two month-old rats were randomly assigned to control, food-restricted and low-protein diet groups. After 6 months, 10 rats from the low-protein diet group were selected at random and fed with a normal protein diet for 2 months. The total number of granule and hilar cells was reduced in protein-deprived rats and the nutritional reestablishment with a normal protein diet did not recover neuron numbers. Protein deprivation increased the number of PV-IR interneurons in the granule cell layer and hilus, but their number returned to values similar to controls after nutritional rehabilitation. Food restriction did not affect the total number of neurons or the density of PV-IR interneurons in the dentate gyrus. These results support the view that protein deprivation may disturb calcium homeostasis, leading to neuronal death. The up-regulation of PV-IR cells may reflect a protective mechanism to counteract the calcium overload and protect the remaining neurons of the dentate gyrus. This imbalance in cell-ratio favoring GABAergic interneurons may justify some learning and memory impairments described in protein-deprived animals. This contrast between the results of food restriction and protein deprivation should be further analyzed in future studies.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 9