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Postnatal choline supplementation in preweanling mice: sexually dimorphic behavioral and neurochemical effects
1Section of Comparative Psychology, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy. lricceri@iss.it
Insights
Postnatal choline supplementation impacted learning and activity in young mice. Choline decreased a key enzyme in males, suggesting sex-specific neurochemical effects during early development.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Biology
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Choline is essential for brain development and neurotransmitter synthesis.
- Postnatal development is a critical window for neurochemical programming.
- Sex differences in neurodevelopmental trajectories are well-documented.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of early-life choline supplementation on neurochemical and behavioral outcomes in preweanling mice.
- To determine if choline affects learning, activity levels, and specific enzyme activity in a sex-dependent manner.
Main Methods:
- BALB/cByJ mouse pups received daily subcutaneous choline chloride injections from postnatal day 1 to 16.
- Behavioral assessments included a passive avoidance learning task and a locomotor activity test.
- Choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) enzymatic activity in the hippocampus was measured post-treatment.
Main Results:
- Choline supplementation influenced passive avoidance task retention on postnatal day 18.
- Locomotor activity increased in female mice but not in males on postnatal day 19.
- Choline administration selectively reduced ChAT activity in male pups' hippocampi.
Conclusions:
- Early-life choline supplementation has differential effects on neurobehavioral and neurochemical parameters in male and female mice.
- The findings suggest choline plays a role in sex-specific neurodevelopmental processes, potentially by modulating cholinergic pathways.
Abstract:
The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of postnatal choline supplementation on neurochemical and behavioral parameters in preweanling BALB/cByJ mice. Mouse pups were injected daily subcutaneously with choline chloride (0.85 mM/g body weight) from Postnatal Day (PND) 1 to PND 16. Pups performed a passive avoidance (PA) learning task on PND 17-18 and a 30-min locomotor activity test on PND 19. The choline treatment affected retention of the PA task on PND 18. The treatment also increased locomotor activity in females, but not in males, on PND 19. Choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) enzymatic activity was measured on PND 20 and revealed that choline administration in the first 2 weeks of postnatal life selectively affects male pups. Choline's effect, as seen in previous rat experiments, was to decrease ChAT activity in the hippocampal region.