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Early postnatal exposure to a cafeteria diet interferes with recency and spatial memory, but not open field habituation in adolescent rats

Wait, Janina; Burns, Catherine; Jones, Taylor; Harper, Zoe; Allen, Emily; Langley-Evans, Simon C.; Voigt, J�rg?Peter

Early postnatal exposure to a cafeteria diet interferes with recency and spatial memory, but not open field habituation in adolescent rats Thumbnail


Authors

Janina Wait

Catherine Burns

Taylor Jones

Zoe Harper

Emily Allen

Simon C. Langley-Evans

J�rg?Peter Voigt



Abstract

The cafeteria diet (CD), an experimental diet that mimics the obesogenic Western diet, can impair memory in adult rats. However, the suckling period is also particularly susceptible to diet?induced behavioural modification. Here, following exposure to CD feeding during lactation, 24? to 26?day?old offspring were tested to determine maternal dietary effects on either open field habituation, object location (OL) learning or on recency learning. Whereas no impact on habituation learning could be demonstrated, both OL and recency memory were impaired. In controls (C), OL memory was shown both after a 5 min (p < .05) or 60 min (p < .001) inter?trial interval (ITI). After the 60 min ITI, the difference between C and CD was significant (p < .05). Learning did not occur in the CD group at any time point and was not observed after the 24hr ITI in in either group. Whereas control rats demonstrated intact recency memory (p < .00001), no learning occurred in the CD group. Both groups differed significantly in their exploration ratios (p < .01). This study suggests a detrimental effect of exposure to an unhealthy Western diet during lactation, on cognitive functions in adolescent rats. These results could have implications for human cognition in the context of obesity epidemic.

Citation

Wait, J., Burns, C., Jones, T., Harper, Z., Allen, E., Langley-Evans, S. C., & Voigt, J. (2021). Early postnatal exposure to a cafeteria diet interferes with recency and spatial memory, but not open field habituation in adolescent rats. Developmental Psychobiology, 63(3), 572-581. https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.22063

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Oct 24, 2020
Online Publication Date Nov 29, 2020
Publication Date Apr 1, 2021
Deposit Date Dec 14, 2020
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Developmental Psychobiology
Print ISSN 0012-1630
Electronic ISSN 1098-2302
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 63
Issue 3
Pages 572-581
DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.22063
Keywords Lactation, Memory, Rodents, Western diet
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5124525
Publisher URL https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/dev.22063
Additional Information This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Wait, J., Burns, C., Jones, T., Harper, Z., Allen, E., Langley?Evans, S. C., & Voigt, J. (2020). Early postnatal exposure to a cafeteria diet interferes with recency and spatial memory, but not open field habituation in adolescent rats. Developmental Psychobiology. https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.22063, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.22063. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.

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