Behavioral effects of severe and moderate early malnutrition.
Rats with a history of prenatal and early postnatal undernutrition (6 or 8% casein diets) were "nutritionally rehabilitated" at weaning, and were compared to well-fed animals (25% casein) at maturity. The severely-malnourished (6%) animals were hyperactive in the open field and when tested in a stabilimeter. They also appeared to be highly active during the early trials in 8-arm radial maze testing where they made more arm entries and re-entry errors than the well-fed rats. In terms of trials to criterion, however, their scores on the radial maze and on a spatial alternation task fell within normal limits. The moderately-malnourished (8%) rats tended to perform at control levels on the learning measures, but these rats were not as active as the 6% rats on the measures of activity. Brain size and weight differences among the three groups of rats also are presented and discussed.
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D001835:Body Weight; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D009929:Organ Size; D011488:Protein Deficiency / Q000523:psychology*; D051381:Rats