PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

P V Gallo

Publications and source records attributed to P V Gallo.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1984

Development of home orientation in offspring of protein-restricted cats.

The development of home orientation was evaluated in 2-14-day-old kittens nursing from mothers fed a protein-restricted or control diet during late gestation and lactation. Although restricted kittens remained in the home when placed in it, their ability to return to the home was delayed when they were removed from it. Restricted kittens also exhibited aberrant locomotor development and an increased frequency of loss of balance (upsets) en route to the home. During postnatal Week 1, vocalization frequency, an index of kitten disturbance when outside the home, was increased in restricted kittens tested in the home, and in adjacent and diagonal corners. Restricted kittens persisted in vocalizing more frequently than controls in home and adjacent corner tests during Week 2. Taken together, these data suggest that maternal protein restriction during late gestation and lactation disrupts the development of home orientation behavior by impairing locomotor function and increasing emotional responsiveness.

Animals↗
PubMed1981

Corticosterone rhythmicity in the rat: interactive effects of dietary restriction and schedule of feeding.

Effects of changes in diet composition and schedule of restricted feeding on the circadian rhythm of plasma corticosterone in the adult rat were examined. Three restricted feeding schedules were used: diet presented 3 hours after lights-on, 1 hour before lights-off or continuously by automated feeder. Animals were paired to controls (consuming 24% protein diet and libitum) and provided 80% of control food intake/g body weight/day. A fourth experimental group was offered 2.4% protein diet ad libitum. Plasma corticoids were measured every 4 hours from 0800 to 0400 hours. Corticoid levels 20 min after food presentation were also determined. Both control and protein-restricted animals displayed a typical circadian rhythm, with corticoids lowest at 0800 hours and a peak at 2000 hours. Animals fed at 0900 hours exhibited a 12-hour shift in peak corticoids, while the circadian rhythm was totally abolished in animals fed by automated feeder. Offering the restricted ration at 1700 hours, however, resulted in a diurnal rhythm similar to that of controls. While pre and post-feeding corticoids were similar in control and protein-restricted animals, a post-feeding suppression was found in all three food-restricted groups. Clearly, the relationship between feeding schedule and diurnal rhythm must not be ignored in nutritional paradigms.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Organ growth and cellular development in ethanol-exposed rats.

Effects of perinatal exposure to ethanol on growth and cellular development were investigated. Alcohol was administered in liquid diets designed to provide optimal nutrition during pregnancy. Pair-fed and ad lib control groups were included. The 3 groups of females were similar in body weight during gestation and lactation, and offspring weights were similar on gestation Day 21 and at birth. By Day 9 of lactation control pups weighted more than both alcohol and pair-fed pups which were similar in body weight. Weights of brain, heart, liver and kidney were reduced in alcohol pups compared to pair-feds and controls. Decreased liver weight reflected both decreased cell size and decreased protein content, but was primarily due to decreased caloric intake. Decreased heart weight appeared to result from a direct effect of ethanol on heart protein content. Even more marked were the adverse effects of ethanol on kidney protein content and kidney DNA (reflecting a decrease in cell number). In contrast, although both absolute brain weight and DNA content were decreased in ethanol-exposed offspring, relative brain weight was increased. Finally, maternal ethanol consumption significantly increased relative placenta weights as well as placental DNA and protein content.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Neuromotor development and response inhibition following prenatal ethanol exposure.

Pregnant rats were given liquid diet with ethanol ad lib, liquid control diet pair-fed to Group 1, or pelleted control diet ad lib. No differences were found in offspring birth weight or rate of growth over 5 postnatal weeks. Upper and lower incisors erupted earlier and palmar grasp disappeared earlier in pair-fed and alcohol animals, while all groups were alike in eye opening, ear unfolding, negative geotaxis, auditory startle, surface righting, cliff avoidance, free-fall righting and mesh climbing. However, ethanol exposed animals showed deficits in orienting ability at 2-7 days of age and in response inhibition in a punished step-down task at 35 days of age. Furthermore, preweaning handling eliminated the deficit in response inhibition. Taken together, these data indicate that without the confounding variable of undernutrition, prenatal ethanol exposure may differentially affects the development of systems involving sensory perception, motivation or inhibition, while systems involving physical, reflex, and locomotor development remain unaltered.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Prenatal ethanol exposure: pituitary-adrenal activity in pregnant dams and offspring.

Pregnant Sprague-Dawley females were assigned to one of three treatments: liquid diet with ethanol (5.5% w/v), ad lib; liquid control diet, pair-fed to alcohol group; pelleted control diet, ad lib. On day 19 of gestation females consuming ethanol exhibited greater corticoid elevations than controls at 30 min following stress. Pair-fed females were similar to controls at 30 min, but did not exhibit the return toward basal levels shown by both ethanol and control females at 90 min following stress. Thus ethanol consumption during pregnancy produced an enhanced stress response, while pair-feeding during pregnancy produced prolonged corticoid activation following stress. In offspring tested at 39 days of age, no sex differences occurred in the plasma corticoid stress response of nonhandled animals from any of the 3 diet groups. However in handled animals, it was observed that females prenatally exposed to ethanol exhibited higher corticosterone levels than alcohol-exposed males. Thus prenatal dietary treatment appeared to interact with postnatal handling experience to influence the development of the pituitary-adrenal system.

Animals↗