Reproduction Abstracts

Maternal malnutrition during pregnancy is detrimental to fetal development and increases the risk of many chronic diseases in later life i.e. neurological consequences such as increased risk of schizophrenia. Previous studies have shown maternal protein malnutrition during pregnancy and lactation compromises brain development in late gestation and after birth, affecting structural, biochemical, and pathway dynamics with lasting consequences for motor and cognitive function. However, the importance of nutrition during embryogenesis for early brain development is unknown. Using a diet model female mice were fed different diets from conception to the end of pregnancy: normal protein diet (NPD), low protein diet (LPD), or embryonic LPD (Emb-LPD: LPD for 3.5 days, NPD thereafter). We have previously shown maternal low protein diet confined to the preimplantation period (Emb-LPD) in mice is sufficient to induce cardiometabolic and locomotory behavioural abnormalities in adult offspring. We have shown using in vivo and in vitro techniques, that Emb-LPD and sustained LPD reduce neural stem cell (NSC) and progenitor cell numbers through suppressed proliferation rates in both ganglionic eminences and cortex of the fetal brain at (E14.5 and E17.5). Moreover, Emb-LPD causes remaining NSCs to upregulate the neuronal differentiation rate in compensation beyond control levels. This data demonstrates poor maternal nutrition around conception, already associated with adult behavioural deficit, adversely affects early brain development.