It is well established that chronic undernutrition has detrimental impacts on brain development and maturation. However, protein malnutrition during the period specifically encompassing the brain growth spurt has not been widely studied, particularly regarding its effects on adolescent and adult offspring behavior. Here, we assessed the effects of a protein-free diet during the 1st 10 postnatal days on the macronutrient content of the milk produced by lactating Wistar rats, on their maternal behavior, and on the offspring's behavior. Lactating dams were fed either a protein-free or a normoprotein diet from litter parturition to Postnatal Day 10 (P10). All dams received the normoprotein diet after P10. Offspring were tested in the elevated plus-maze (anxiety-like behavior), hole board arena (novelty-seeking and locomotor activity), and radial arm water maze (memory-learning) at either P40 (adolescents) or P90 (adults). The protein-free diet reduced milk protein content at P10 but not at P20. Carbohydrate and lipid contents were unaffected. Serum corticosterone levels in the offspring (at P10, P40, or P90) and dams (at P21) were not affected by the protein-free diet. Maternal behavior was also unchanged. In the offspring, no differences were observed between groups regarding anxiety-like behaviors at both ages. The protein-free diet increased adolescent locomotor activity as well as adult novelty-seeking behavior and memory performance. Our results indicate that the brain growth spurt period is particularly sensitive to protein malnutrition, showing that even a brief nutritional insult during this period can cause specific age-dependent behavioral effects on the offspring. (PsycINFO Database Record

中文翻译：

---

泌乳程序中的母本无蛋白饮食可增加雄性Wistar大鼠后代的寻求新颖性，运动能力和视觉空间性能。

众所周知，长期营养不良会对大脑发育和成熟产生不利影响。但是，尚未广泛研究特别涵盖大脑生长突增期的蛋白质营养不良，特别是关于其对青少年和成年后代行为的影响。在这里，我们评估了出生后第10天无蛋白饮食对哺乳Wistar大鼠所产生的牛奶中的大量营养成分，其母体行为以及后代行为的影响。从产仔到产后第10天（P10），给哺乳期大坝饲喂无蛋白质或正常蛋白质的饲料。P10后所有母犬均接受了正常蛋白饮食。后代在高迷迷宫（焦虑样行为），洞板竞技场（追求新奇和运动能力），和P40（青少年）或P90（成人）的radial臂水迷宫（记忆学习）。无蛋白质饮食降低了P10时的乳蛋白含量，但未降低P20时。碳水化合物和脂质含量不受影响。无蛋白饮食不会影响后代（P10，P40或P90）和大坝（P21）的血清皮质激素水平。孕产妇的行为也没有改变。在后代中，两组之间在两个年龄段的焦虑样行为方面均未观察到差异。不含蛋白质的饮食增加了青少年的运动能力以及成年新奇行为和记忆能力。我们的结果表明，大脑发育突增期对蛋白质营养不良特别敏感，表明在此期间即使短暂的营养攻击也会对后代造成特定的年龄依赖性行为影响。