Breeding rats on amino acid imbalanced diets for three consecutive generations affects the concentrations of putative...

Rats were bred for three consecutive generations (F1, F2, F3) on different amino acid enriched diets (tryptophan-enriched, phenylalanine-enriched, tyrosine-enriched, valine-isoleucineleucine-enriched). The concentrations of the putative amino acid transmitters glycine, glutamate, aspartate, γ-aminobutyric acid, and taurine were measured in the brain stem of the developing offsprings by thin layer micro-chromatography of the dansylated amino acids. The concentrations of the investigated amino acid transmitters in the brain stem of the developing offspring of the amino acid imbalanced rats differed significantly from the values found in normal rats. The alterations from the normal developmental profiles were most pronounced in the rats bred on the valine-isoleucine-leucine-enriched diet. Also the growth rate of the developing brain in each generation was affected by the different dietary amino acid supply. In the third generation at 20 days of age, with the exception of the rats bred on the tyrosineenriched diets, brain weights were generally decreased.