Maternal dietary restriction causes myelin and lipid deficits in the brain of offspring

The relationship between brain myelination and nutritional insufficiency in suckling rats whose dams had a restricted dietary intake was studied. The undernourished pups were characterized by body weight and brain weight that were 40-70% and 82-88% that of controls throughout the suckling period. Myelin concentrations, whether expressed as mg protein or as mg myelin dry weight per g wet brain, were 30-40% of normally fed controls. Myelin of undernourished rats contained total lipid, cholesterol, phospholipids, and sphingolipids that were 42, 54, 39, and 48%, respectively of the control counterparts. There was no change in the mole ratio of cholesterol:phospholipids:sphingolipids (i.e., cerebroside + sulfatide) in myelin from undernourished rats. Concentrations of individual phospholipids and sphingolipids were lowered by approximately the same percentage. Despite long-lasting, irreversible stunting of whole-body and brain growth, concentrations of myelin and myelin lipids returned to control levels after nutritional rehabilitation. Since the observed effects are different from those of more commonly used models, the present form of undernutrition may offer a useful system for studying the relationship between myelin lipids and brain development.