title: Effects of undernutrition during suckling on phosphoryl-serine levels in brain nuclear proteins of adult rats.
abstract: The effect of undernutrition during suckling on neurochemical and behavioral parameters were investigated in adult rats. Young rats were undernourished by suckling their lactating mothers fed an 8% (by wt) protein diet. Mothers of normal rats were fed a 20% protein diet. After weaning (d 21), normal and undernourished rats were fed a 20% protein diet until 90-120 d of age, when the rats were subjected to a short shuttle avoidance session and/or killed for neurochemical analyses. During shuttle avoidance sessions, footshock escape and footshock avoidance responses were analyzed simultaneously using 0.2- or 0.8-mA footshock intensity. In addition, the effect of undernutrition during suckling on phosphoryl-serine (P-Ser) level in brain nuclear proteins and the response of this level to a shuttle avoidance session were studied. We observed that undernutrition during suckling had no effect on footshock avoidance responses and decreased the latencies of footshock escape responses using 0.2-mA footshock intensity. Undernutrition decreased the basal level of P-Ser in brain nuclear proteins and abolished the decrease of this level observed in a shuttle avoidance session in normal rats using 0.2- or 0.8-mA footshock intensity.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000833:Animals, Suckling / Q000502:physiology*; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D004597:Electroshock; D004924:Escape Reaction / Q000502:physiology; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D010768:Phosphoserine / Q000378:metabolism*; D011488:Protein Deficiency / Q000503:physiopathology*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012694:Serine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*
chemical_list: D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D010768:Phosphoserine; D012694:Serine