Journal
NUTRIENTS
Volume 14, Issue 9, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/nu14091850
Keywords
selenium; perinatal exposure; diet; neuroinflammation; microglia; behavior; oxidative stress
Categories
Funding
- JPI HDHL-INTIMIC Knowledge Platform on Food, Diet, Intestinal Microbiomics and Human Health
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Research shows that sufficient selenium intake is important for brain and cognitive development during pregnancy and early life. A sub-optimal selenium diet may have negative effects on brain development and behavior, while a deficient selenium diet may lead to reduced antioxidant activity.
Research in both animals and humans shows that some nutrients are important in pregnancy and during the first years of life to support brain and cognitive development. Our aim was to evaluate the role of selenium (Se) in supporting brain and behavioral plasticity and maturation. Pregnant and lactating female rats and their offspring up to postnatal day 40 were fed isocaloric diets differing in Se content-i.e., optimal, sub-optimal, and deficient-and neurodevelopmental, neuroinflammatory, and anti-oxidant markers were analyzed. We observed early adverse behavioral changes in juvenile rats only in sub-optimal offspring. In addition, sub-optimal, more than deficient supply, reduced basal glial reactivity in sex dimorphic and brain-area specific fashion. In female offspring, deficient and sub-optimal diets reduced the antioxidant Glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity in the cortex and in the liver, the latter being the key organ regulating Se metabolism and homeostasis. The finding that the Se sub-optimal was more detrimental than Se deficient diet may suggest that maternal Se deficient diet, leading to a lower Se supply at earlier stages of fetal development, stimulated homeostatic mechanisms in the offspring that were not initiated by sub-optimal Se. Our observations demonstrate that even moderate Se deficiency during early life negatively may affect, in a sex-specific manner, optimal brain development.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available