Early protein malnutrition disrupts cerebellar development and impairs motor coordination

Maternal malnutrition affects every aspect of fetal development. The present study asked the question whether a low-protein diet of the mother could result in motor deficits in the offspring. Further, to examine whether cerebellar pathology was correlated with motor deficits, several parameters of the postnatal development of the cerebellum were assayed. This is especially important because the development of the cerebellum is unique in that the time scale of development is protracted compared with that of the cortex or hippocampus. The most important result of the study is that animals born to protein-deficient mothers showed significant delays in motor development as assessed by rotarod and gait analysis. These animals also showed reduced cell proliferation and reduced thickness in the external granular layer. There was a reduction in the number of calbindin-positive Purkinje cells (PC) and granular cells in the internal granular layer. However, glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive population including Bergmann glia remained unaffected. We therefore conclude that the development of the granular cell layer and the PC is specifically prone to the effects of protein malnutrition potentially due to their protracted developmental period from approximately embryonic day 11 to 13 until about the third postnatal week.

A delphi study on health in future India

PIP: A delphi study was conducted to identify or envision health scenarios in India by the year 2000. Questionnaires consisting of 48 questions on 5 areas (diagnosis and therapy; family planning; pharmaceuticals and drugs; biochemical and biomedical research; health services) were mailed to 250 experts in India. 36 responded. Results were compiled and mailed back to the respondents for changes and comments. 17 people responded. Results of the delphi study shows that policy decisions with respect to compulsory family planning as well as health education at secondary school level will precede further breakthroughs in birth control technology. Non operation reversible sterilization procedures, immunological birth control, Ayurvedic medicines for contraception and abortion, and selection of baby's sex are all possible by 2000 thereafter. Complete eradication of infectious diseases, malnutrition and associated diseases is considered unlikely before 2000, as are advances in biomedical research. Changes in health services (e.g., significant increases in hospital beds and doctors, cheap bulk drugs), particularly in rural areas, are imminent, leading to prolonging of life expectancy to 70 years. Genetic engineering may provide significant breakthroughs in the prevention of malignancies and cardiac disorders. The India delphi study is patterned after a similar delphi study conducted in the U.S. by Smith, Kline and French (SKF) Laboratories in 1968. The SKF study was able to predict some breakthroughs with basic research which have been realized.

Quantitative and compositional changes in myelin of undernourished and protein malnourished rat brains

Effects of undernutrition and protein malnutrition on the quantitative and qualitative changes in myelin isolated from rat brain at 3 and 8 weeks of age were investigated. Undernutrition during suckling period was induced by increasing the litter size, and continued from the 3rd to the 8th week by limited food intake, or the rats were rehabilitated with adequate food. Protein malnutrition was induced by feeding the lactating dams 5% protein diet as against 25% protein diet in controls. The protein malnourished rats were rehabilitated from the 3rd to the 8th week with the normal 25% protein diet. Undernutrition produced 16% and 35% reductions in the myelin content at 3 and 8 weeks of age, respectively, and was only partially restored on rehabilitation. Protein malnutrition caused more drastic reduction of 27% in the myelin content at 3 weeks, which was also partially restored on rehabilitation. The specific activity of 2′,3′-cyclic nucleotide 3′-phosphohydrolase was not affected by undernutrition, whereas protein malnutrition caused a 25% reduction at 3 weeks, which was totally reversed by rehabilitation. Undernutrition had not altered the relative composition of myelin proteins, but protein malnutrition resulted in a significant reduction in the proteolipid protein at 3 weeks of age, which could be reversed by rehabilitation.