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Long-term consequences of perinatal high-fat feeding on dopamine function and metabolism in rats

This research project investigates the long-term consequences of perinatal exposure to high-fat (HF) on the mesocorticolimbic dopamine (DA) system. Adult offspring of mothers fed a HF diet (30% fat, compared to 5% in control mothers (C)) during the last week of gestation and throughout lactation displayed decreased locomotion in response to an acute amphetamine challenge and decreased behavioral sensitization to repeated amphetamine compared to C animals. These behavioral effects were accompanied by small increases in tyrosine hydroxylase expression in the ventral tegmental area and significant increases in DA and DOPAC content in the NAc, suggesting an elevated DA tone in this target field. In the NAc, there were no significant changes in D1, D2 receptors or DA transporter (DAT) levels between diet groups. The behavioural and biochemical data were collected in adulthood, long after the termination of the diet suggesting that a HF perinatal diet is inducing permanent changes within the DA system and might contribute to the development of metabolic disturbances.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.112544
Date January 2008
CreatorsNaef, Lindsay.
PublisherMcGill University
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Formatapplication/pdf
CoverageMaster of Science (Department of Psychiatry.)
RightsAll items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
Relationalephsysno: 002699700, proquestno: AAIMR51312, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest.

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