The effect of zinc deprivation on the brain
1974
Fosmire, G.J. | Al-Ubaidi, Y.Y. | Halas, E. | Sandstead, H.H.
From parturition mother Sprague-Dawley rats were given a diet with less than 1 mg Zn/kg and deionised water to drink. Controls were pair-fed or fed to appetite on the same diet but had 100 mg Zn/litre added to their drinking water. The young were killed at intervals or after 21 days were given a diet adequate in Zn for 23 days and then tested in a maze. Weights of the forebrain of offspring of deprived and pair-fed rats were similar and less than that of young of rats fed to appetite. Brain DNA content was greater in young of controls fed to appetite than in the other groups and RNA content was greater in both control groups than in those deprived of Zn. Total protein and protein:DNA ratio were less in deprived young than in the control groups, showing that size of brain cells was reduced by Zn deprivation. The deprived rats showed fewer polysomes than the controls. The number of total errors made in the maze by rats deprived of Zn during suckling was significantly greater than for either control group; nutritional rehabilitation did not reverse the defect.
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