Effects of intermittent feeding on neurochemical markers in aging rat brain.
Male Wistar rats were fed a diet of 24% protein either ad lib (AL) or every other day (EOD) beginning shortly after weaning. Rats were killed at 6 or 24-months of age. The corpus striatum, cerebral cortex, hippocampus, and cerebellum were assayed for muscarinic cholinergic receptor binding and the activities of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), L-glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH). Sensecent rats maintained on EOD feeding schedules from weaning showed a markedly higher density of striatal muscarinic binding sites and higher activities of cerebellar, hippocampal, and striatal ChAT, as compared with values in AL-fed rats. Regional GAD and TH activities were relatively unaffected by EOD feeding; however, at 6 months, EOD-fed rats had higher cortical GAD and lower cortical TH activities than corresponding AL-fed rats. EOD feeding for only 2 weeks produced no significant effects on neurochemical parameters examined in 24-month-old rats. We conclude that EOD feeding from weaning can alter neurochemical markers of senescence in rat brain; that cholinergic systems are affected in particular; and that the observed alterations produced by EOD feeding represent chronic rather than acute effects.
London
E D
ED
Waller
S B
SB
Ellis
A T
AT
Ingram
D K
DK
D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase / Q000378:metabolism; D002799:Cholinergic Fibers / Q000502:physiology; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000502:physiology; D004032:Diet; D005968:Glutamate Decarboxylase / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D011976:Receptors, Muscarinic / Q000032:analysis; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase / Q000378:metabolism
D011976:Receptors, Muscarinic; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase; D005968:Glutamate Decarboxylase