(11-11-11) Early protein malnutrition disrupts cerebellar development and impairs motor coordination.

Ranade SC, Sarfaraz Nawaz M, Kumar Rambtla P, Rose AJ, Gressens P, Mani S.
Source
National Brain Research Centre, NH-8, Manesar, Haryana 122 050, India.
Abstract
Maternal malnutrition affects every aspect of fetal development. The present
study asked the question whether a low-protein diet of the mother could result
in motor deficits in the offspring. Further, to examine whether cerebellar
pathology was correlated with motor deficits, several parameters of the
postnatal development of the cerebellum were assayed. This is especially
important because the development of the cerebellum is unique in that the time
scale of development is protracted compared with that of the cortex or
hippocampus. The most important result of the study is that animals born to
protein-deficient mothers showed significant delays in motor development as
assessed by rotarod and gait analysis. These animals also showed reduced cell
proliferation and reduced thickness in the external granular layer. There was a
reduction in the number of calbindin-positive Purkinje cells (PC) and granular
cells in the internal granular layer. However, glial fibrillary acidic protein-
positive population including Bergmann glia remained unaffected. We therefore
conclude that the development of the granular cell layer and the PC is
specifically prone to the effects of protein malnutrition potentially due to
their protracted developmental period from approximately embryonic day 11 to 13
until about the third postnatal week.

Source: Br J Nutr. 2011 Nov 4:1-9. [Epub ahead of print]

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