Protein-Energy Malnutrition Causes Deficits in Motor Function in Adult Male Rats.

J Nutr

Neuroscience Research Group and College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Published: November 2015


Category Ranking

98%

Total Visits

921

Avg Visit Duration

2 minutes

Citations

20

Article Abstract

Background: Adult protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) often occurs in combination with neurological disorders affecting hand use and walking ability. The independent effects of PEM on motor function are not well characterized and may be obscured by these comorbidities.

Objective: Our goal was to undertake a comprehensive evaluation of sensorimotor function with the onset and progression of PEM in an adult male rat model.

Methods: In Expt. 1 and Expt. 2, male Sprague-Dawley rats (14-15 wk old) were assigned ad libitum access for 4 wk to normal-protein (NP) or low-protein (LP) diets containing 12.5% and 0.5% protein, respectively. Expt. 1 assessed muscle strength, balance, and skilled walking ability on days 2, 8, and 27 by bar-holding, cylinder, and horizontal ladder walking tasks, respectively. In addition to food intake and body weight, nutritional status was determined on days 3, 9, and 28 by serum acute-phase reactant and corticosterone concentrations and liver lipids. Expt. 2 addressed the effect of an LP diet on hindlimb muscle size.

Results: PEM evolved over time in rats consuming the LP diet. Total food intake decreased by 24% compared with the NP group. On day 28, body weight and serum albumin decreased by 31% and 26%, respectively, and serum α2-macroglobulin increased by 445% (P < 0.05) in the LP group compared with the NP group. Forelimb dysfunction (173% increase in adaptive flexed-arm-hang score) developed on day 2 in rats fed the LP diet (P < 0.001), whereas abnormal walking (34% decreased incidence of correct hindlimb placement) developed by day 27 (P < 0.05). Relative to the NP diet, the LP diet reduced the cross-sectional area of gastrocnemius medialis (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: PEM in adult male rats causes a variety of sensorimotor abnormalities that develop at different stages of malnutrition. This model can be used in combination with disease models of sensorimotor deficits to examine the interactions between nutritional status, other treatments, and disease progression.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5469620PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.3945/jn.115.216382DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

adult male
12
protein-energy malnutrition
8
motor function
8
male rats
8
walking ability
8
pem adult
8
food intake
8
body weight
8
nutritional status
8
compared group
8

Similar Publications

Psychoacoustic assessment of misophonia.

JASA Express Lett

September 2025

Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas 76201,

Misophonia is a condition characterized by intense negative emotional reactions to trigger sounds and related stimuli. In this study, adult listeners (N = 15) with a self-reported history of misophonia symptoms and a control group without misophonia (N = 15) completed listening judgements of recorded misophonia trigger stimuli using a standard scale. Participants also completed an established questionnaire of misophonia symptoms, the Misophonia Questionnaire (MQ).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Importance: Previous data suggest that the time changes associated with daylight savings time (DST) may be associated with an increased incidence of acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

Objective: To determine whether the incidence of patients presenting with AMI is greater during the weeks during or after DST and compare the in-hospital clinical events between the week before DST and after DST.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cross-sectional study examined patients enrolled in the Chest Pain MI Registry from 2013 to 2022.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Importance: As obesity rates rise in the US, managing associated metabolic comorbidities presents a growing burden to the health care system. While bariatric surgery has shown promise in mitigating established metabolic conditions, no large studies have quantified the risk of developing major obesity-related comorbidities after bariatric surgery.

Objective: To identify common metabolic phenotypes for patients eligible for bariatric surgery and to estimate crude and adjusted incidence rates of additional metabolic comorbidities associated with bariatric surgery compared with weight management program (WMP) alone.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Importance: Patients with advanced cancer frequently receive broad-spectrum antibiotics, but changing use patterns across the end-of-life trajectory remain poorly understood.

Objective: To describe the patterns of broad-spectrum antibiotic use across defined end-of-life intervals in patients with advanced cancer.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This nationwide, population-based, retrospective cohort study used data from the South Korean National Health Insurance Service database to examine broad-spectrum antibiotic use among patients with advanced cancer who died between July 1, 2002, and December 31, 2021.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Importance: Advances in diagnostics have enabled the detection of more gastrointestinal pathogens, but misuse of diagnostics can lead to inappropriate antibiotic use and excess financial burdens. Ensuring appropriate use of diagnostics is crucial for optimizing patient care and promoting stewardship of health care resources.

Objective: To elicit parents' and clinicians' perspectives on expectations for care of pediatric diarrhea with a focus on diagnostic testing and to evaluate the potential for an electronic clinical decision support tool (ECDST) to improve appropriate use of diagnostics.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF