Analysis of the neural effects of in utero protein restriction in rats subjected or not to caloric overload: study parameters neuro-behavioral, morpho-functional molecular and during development in rats

• Grant number: 13/20539-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: November 01, 2013
• End date: December 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Morphology - Histology
• Principal Investigator: Jose Antonio Rocha Gontijo
• Grantee: Agnes da Silva Lopes Oliveira
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Médicas (FCM). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 13/07607-8 - OCRC - Obesity and Comorbidities Research Center, AP.CEPID

Abstract

In developed and developing maternal and child malnutrition has evident repercussions on the health of the population. This is due to ontogenetic changes leading to a predisposition to the development of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases in adulthood. Recent studies suggest that changes during development may be among the main causes of the obesity epidemic. The restriction of intrauterine growth increases the risk of obesity in adulthood. The fetal programming by undernutrition or protein restriction leads to increased fetal exposure to glucocorticoids alters the function and maternal postnatal hippocampus-axis hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HHPA) may cause in adults, chronically increased exposure to glucocorticoids (GC) or exacerbation in response to stress. Corticosteroids modulate the neuro-behavioral and structural, metabolic and cardiovascular abnormalities associated with specific areas of the central nervous system. Other neurotransmitter systems, as well as epigenetic modulators of neural development, may be implicated in the cause or consequence of fetal programming. It is known that excessive intake of certain macronutrients, such as simple carbohydrates can lead to metabolic dysfunction and obesity. Neuroplastic changes, including the neurochemical phenotype, neuronal firing, synaptic connections and dendritic growth can be grtadas by dietary factors, not only during critical periods of development, but also in adolescence and adulthood (AU)