Effect of protein malnutrition on glycoprotein, protein and lipid synthesis in the rat cerebellum during the period of brain growth spurt

Female Wistar rats were fed a normal-protein diet (25% casein) or a low-protein diet (8% casein) during pregnancy and lactation. The two diets were isocaloric and contained appropriate amounts of mineral salts and vitamins. Pups from dams submitted to the low-protein diet had a lower body weight than normally fed controls as early as on the day of birth, but a difference in cerebellar weight between the two groups was observed only on the 15th postnatal day. Malnutrition had no effect on cerebellar protein concentration, which increased with age in both groups. The cerebellar DNA concentration was higher at 7 and 15 days of age in normally fed rats than in malnourished rats, whereas at 21 days of age it was higher in the malnourished animals. U-14C]Leucine and 2-3H]mannose incorporation into proteins and lipid synthesis from acetyl coenzyme A (CoA) derived from U-14C]leucine markedly decreased with age in the cerebellum of rats fed both diets. 2-3H]Mannose incorporation into cerebellar glycoproteins was greater in malnourished rats during the period of brain growth spurt than in normally fed rats at all ages studied. Prenatal and postnatal protein malnutrition had no effect on U-14C]leucine incorporation into cerebellar proteins or on cerebellar lipid synthesis from acetyl-CoA derived from U-14C]leucine during the period of brain growth spurt.