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Effect of undernutrition on the cranial growth of the rat. An intergenerational study
María F Cesani1, Bibiana Orden, Mariel Zucchi
1Centro de Investigaciones en Genética Básica y Aplicada (CIGEBA), Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP), Buenos Aires, Argentina. mfcesani@museo.fcnym.unlp.edu.ar
Insights
Moderate undernutrition in parent rats led to impaired cranial growth in their offspring across generations. This study reveals a cumulative effect of dietary restriction on neurocranial and facial development.
Area of Science:
- Developmental biology
- Genetics
- Nutritional science
Background:
- Undernutrition can impact growth and development.
- The effects of chronic, multigenerational undernutrition on skeletal development are not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the impact of multigenerational undernutrition on cranial growth in rats.
- To determine if undernutrition has a cumulative effect across successive generations.
Main Methods:
- Comparison of cranial growth in parental (P) and three undernourished generations (F1, F2, F3) of rats.
- Dietary restriction: 50% for F1, 75% for F2 and F3 compared to ad libitum fed P generation.
- Radiographic analysis of neurocranial and facial components from 20-100 days of age, calculating neurocranial (VNI), facial (VFI), and neurofacial (NFI) indices.
Main Results:
- Undernutrition impaired both neurocranial and facial growth.
- Facial growth was more affected than neurocranial growth in the F1 generation.
- Neurocranial growth was more affected than facial growth in the F2 and F3 generations, altering skull shape.
Conclusions:
- Moderate transgenerational undernutrition has a cumulative negative effect on cranial development.
- The differential impact on facial versus neurocranial growth changes across generations.
- Further research is warranted to explore the mechanisms and long-term consequences of these findings.
Abstract:
The cumulative effect of undernutrition on successive generations was tested. The cranial growth of three generations of undernourished rats (F1, F2, F3) was compared to that of the parental generation (P), in order to (1). measure the extent to which the growth of each facial and neurocranial functional component was retarded when animals were undernourished and (2). determine whether any cumulative effect between generations can be found. The P generation was fed ad libitum, and the undernourished generations were fed 50% (F1) and 75% (F2 and F3) of the parental diet. Nine radiographs were taken from the age of 20-100 days. The length, width and height of the neurocranial and facial components were measured on each radiograph. Neurocranial (VNI), facial (VFI), and neurofacial (NFI) indices were calculated. Data were processed by the Kruskal-Wallis and Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests. An impairment in neurocranial and facial growth was found, the latter being more affected than the former in F1. At variance, the neurocranium was more affected than the face in F2 and F3, resulting in variations of the shape of the skull. A cumulative effect of moderate transgenerational undernutrition was evident and points to the need for further analysis on this topic.
