Early life undernutrition in rats

Abstract

1. A detailed investigation was made of the motor performance of rats which had impaired cerebellar and muscular growth resulting from early-life undernutrition.2. Developing rats were growth-retarded by underfeeding their mothers during pregnancy and lactation. They were fed ad lib. from 25 d of age.3. Adult male previously-undernourished (PU) and well-fed control rats were given tests of motor behaviour commencing at 5 months of age. They were required to run backwards to maintain their position on a revolving drum. Aspects of the test situation were varied systematically: visual environment, interval between trials, test duration and drum speed.4. PU rats had a 29% body-weight deficit compared with controls at 5 months.5. There was no evidence of impaired motor performance by the PU rats under any of the test conditions.