title: Dietary choline manipulations and behavioural modifications in rats in the early stages of aging.
abstract: 1. Behavioural effects of chronic manipulations of dietary choline in rats in the early stages of aging are reported. Rats were maintained on choline-deficient, low-choline and high-choline enriched diets. Two schedules of operant conditioning, representing "learning'h situations, plus an open field session were studied. 2. In the "temporal discrimination" test, the low-choline enriched group performed significantly better than controls while the deficient-choline group worse. The high-choline enriched group performed better than controls only in the second part of the test (where there was a stabilisation in behaviour). 3. In the "extinction" trials the high-choline enriched group retarded, while deficient-choline accelerated the extinction. In the open field sessions only the deficient-choline group, for the number of squares crossed, significantly differed from controls. 4. These observations lead us to suggest a general depressive effect in the rats on a choline-deficient diet, whereas with dietary choline supplements the effects on "learning" situations can be variable depending, on a large measure, on the test chosen.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pharmacology and Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, University of Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fundarò
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Paschero
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000523:psychology; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D002794:Choline / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002796:Choline Deficiency / Q000523:psychology; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000187:drug effects; D004032:Diet; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects; D005108:Extinction, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains
chemical_list: D002794:Choline