The impact of cafeteria feeding during lactation in the rat on novel object discrimination in the offspring

There is increasing evidence that hyperenergetic diets impact on memory in rodents. However, it is largely unknown how diets, such as a cafeteria diet (CD), that mimic a Western diet act on learning and memory, in particular when fed during early stages of development. Here, we fed lactating dams a...

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Main Authors: Wright, Thomas, King, Madeleine, Davey, William, Langley-Evans, Simon C., Voigt, Jörg-Peter
Format: Article
Published: Cambridge University Press 2014
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/28477/
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author Wright, Thomas
King, Madeleine
Davey, William
Langley-Evans, Simon C.
Voigt, Jörg-Peter
author_facet Wright, Thomas
King, Madeleine
Davey, William
Langley-Evans, Simon C.
Voigt, Jörg-Peter
author_sort Wright, Thomas
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description There is increasing evidence that hyperenergetic diets impact on memory in rodents. However, it is largely unknown how diets, such as a cafeteria diet (CD), that mimic a Western diet act on learning and memory, in particular when fed during early stages of development. Here, we fed lactating dams a cafeteria diet and exposed both male and female offspring to a novel object discrimination (NOD) task, a two-trial test of recognition memory in which rats exposed to two identical objects during a training/familiarisation trial can discriminate a novel from a familiar object during the subsequent choice trial. The choice trial was performed following inter-trial interval (ITI) delays of up to 4 h. Maternal diet did not impact on exploration of the objects by either sex during the familiarisation trial. Control males discriminated the novel from the familiar object indicating intact memory with an ITI of 1h, but not 2 or 4h. CD delayed this natural forgetting in male rats such that discrimination was also evident after a 2h ITI. In contrast, control females exhibited discrimination following both 1 and 2h ITIs, but CD impaired performance. In summary, the present study shows that maternal exposure to CD programmes NOD in the adult. In better performing females dietary programming interferes with NOD whereas NOD was improved in males after lactational CD feeding.
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spelling nottingham-284772020-05-04T20:18:11Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/28477/ The impact of cafeteria feeding during lactation in the rat on novel object discrimination in the offspring Wright, Thomas King, Madeleine Davey, William Langley-Evans, Simon C. Voigt, Jörg-Peter There is increasing evidence that hyperenergetic diets impact on memory in rodents. However, it is largely unknown how diets, such as a cafeteria diet (CD), that mimic a Western diet act on learning and memory, in particular when fed during early stages of development. Here, we fed lactating dams a cafeteria diet and exposed both male and female offspring to a novel object discrimination (NOD) task, a two-trial test of recognition memory in which rats exposed to two identical objects during a training/familiarisation trial can discriminate a novel from a familiar object during the subsequent choice trial. The choice trial was performed following inter-trial interval (ITI) delays of up to 4 h. Maternal diet did not impact on exploration of the objects by either sex during the familiarisation trial. Control males discriminated the novel from the familiar object indicating intact memory with an ITI of 1h, but not 2 or 4h. CD delayed this natural forgetting in male rats such that discrimination was also evident after a 2h ITI. In contrast, control females exhibited discrimination following both 1 and 2h ITIs, but CD impaired performance. In summary, the present study shows that maternal exposure to CD programmes NOD in the adult. In better performing females dietary programming interferes with NOD whereas NOD was improved in males after lactational CD feeding. Cambridge University Press 2014 Article PeerReviewed Wright, Thomas, King, Madeleine, Davey, William, Langley-Evans, Simon C. and Voigt, Jörg-Peter (2014) The impact of cafeteria feeding during lactation in the rat on novel object discrimination in the offspring. British Journal of Nutrition, 112 . pp. 1933-1937. ISSN 0007-1145 http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9446882&fileId=S0007114514003134 doi:10.1017/S0007114514003134 doi:10.1017/S0007114514003134
spellingShingle Wright, Thomas
King, Madeleine
Davey, William
Langley-Evans, Simon C.
Voigt, Jörg-Peter
The impact of cafeteria feeding during lactation in the rat on novel object discrimination in the offspring
title The impact of cafeteria feeding during lactation in the rat on novel object discrimination in the offspring
title_full The impact of cafeteria feeding during lactation in the rat on novel object discrimination in the offspring
title_fullStr The impact of cafeteria feeding during lactation in the rat on novel object discrimination in the offspring
title_full_unstemmed The impact of cafeteria feeding during lactation in the rat on novel object discrimination in the offspring
title_short The impact of cafeteria feeding during lactation in the rat on novel object discrimination in the offspring
title_sort impact of cafeteria feeding during lactation in the rat on novel object discrimination in the offspring
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/28477/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/28477/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/28477/