Effects of maternal hyperhomocysteinemia induced by high methionine diet on the learning and memory performance in offspring.
In this study, we suggest that chronic maternal hyperhomocysteinemia results in learning deficits in the offspring due to delayed brain maturation and altered expression pattern of neural cell adhesion molecule. Although the deleterious effects of hyperhomocysteinemia were extensively investigated in the adults, there is no clear evidence suggesting its action on the developing fetal rat brain and cognitive functions of the offspring. Therefore, in the present work we aimed to investigate effects of maternal hyperhomocysteinemia on the fetal brain development and on the behavior of the offspring. A group of pregnant rats received daily methionine (1 g/kg body weight) dissolved in drinking water to induce maternal hyperhomocysteinemia, starting in the beginning of gestational day 0. The levels of glial fibrillary acidic protein, S100B protein, and neural cell adhesion molecule were determined in the tissue samples from the pups. Learning and memory performances of the young-adult offsprings were tested using Morris water maze test. There were significant reductions in the expressions of glial fibrillary acidic protein and S100B protein in the brains of maternally hyperhomocysteinemic pups on postnatal day 1, suggesting that hyperhomocysteinemia delays brain maturation. In conclusion, maternal hyperhomocysteinemia changes the expression pattern of neural cell adhesion molecule and therefore leads to an impairment in the learning performance of the offspring.
Baydas
Giyasettin
G
Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Firat University, 23119 Elazig, Turkey. baydas@hotmail.com
Koz
Sema T
ST
Tuzcu
Mehmet
M
Nedzvetsky
Victor S
VS
Etem
Ebru
E
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000502:physiology; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D020138:Hyperhomocysteinemia / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000150:complications* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008715:Methionine; D009414:Nerve Growth Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D039842:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecule L1 / Q000378:metabolism; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D064568:S100 Calcium Binding Protein beta Subunit; D009418:S100 Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D012794:Sialic Acids / Q000378:metabolism
D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D009414:Nerve Growth Factors; D039842:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecule L1; D064568:S100 Calcium Binding Protein beta Subunit; D009418:S100 Proteins; C579158:S100b protein, rat; D012794:Sialic Acids; C103469:polysialyl neural cell adhesion molecule; D008715:Methionine