title: Motor, but not sensory, cortical potentials are amplified by high-protein diet.
abstract: Animals fed a high-protein diet (50% casein) are hyperactive and more responsive to nociceptive stimuli than those fed either a normal- or low-protein diet. The mechanisms mediating dietary protein-induced behavior are unknown and may include both central and peripheral neural effects. Adult, Sprague-Dawley rats were fed 50% casein (treatment group) and 24% casein (control group) ad lib for 36-40 weeks. The animals were anesthetized with alpha-chloralose and urethane (50 mg/kg and 1.5 mg/kg, IP). EEG recordings were averaged while the anesthetized animal was conditioned using an alerting stimulus-imperative stimulus (AS-IS) paradigm. AS consisted of a 1.5 kHz, 90 dB tone cue. This was followed 2 seconds later by IS, an electrical tail stimulation (11 V, 1.4 s duration). Two negative deflections (N1 and N2) were generated by the frontal cortex during the AS-IS interstimulus interval. N1, an alerting response, was not different between the two groups. N2 amplitude and peak latency were significantly increased in the high-protein group (205% and 117% of control, respectively; p less than 0.05). N2 represents the activation of cells in the motor cortex. Brainstem auditory-evoked responses and somatosensory-evoked potentials also were recorded, but no differences were observed between the two diet groups. These data suggest that consumption of a high-protein diet results in an increase in central arousal mechanisms (measured by cortical negativity response), specifically involving increased excitability of the motor cortex, that is not associated with a disorder of information processing in the cerebral cortex (measured by brainstem auditory-evoked responses and somatosensory-evoked potentials).
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Laboratory, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70808.
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Brock
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Prasad
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000502:physiology*; D003265:Contingent Negative Variation / Q000502:physiology; D004044:Dietary Proteins / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000378:metabolism; D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem / Q000502:physiology*; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory / Q000502:physiology*; D008144:Loudness Perception / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D011954:Receptors, Dopamine / Q000502:physiology; D012684:Sensory Thresholds / Q000502:physiology; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D004044:Dietary Proteins; D011954:Receptors, Dopamine