Effects of prenatal protein deprivation on postnatal development of granule cells in the fascia dentata.

The effect of prenatal protein deprivation on the postnatal development of granule cells in the fascia dentata in the rat was studied at 15, 30, 90, and 220 days of age. The granule cells showed a significant reduction in cell size, decreased number of synaptic spines throughout their dendritic extent, and reduced complexity of dendritic branching in the outer two-thirds of the molecular layer. All of these deficits were present at 15 days and persisted throughout the study (220 days). The least deficits in synaptic spine density occurred at 90 days and in dendritic branching at 30 days. Partial restitution of earlier, more severe deficits was associated primarily with maturational events occurring in the protein deprived rats, whereas later increases in deficits were related primarily to a failure of the protein deprived rats to keep pace with neuronal development occurring in the controls. The present results are similar to those noted in our previous study in this journal of the effect of a low protein diet (8% casein) on these neurons that extended from pregnancy until the time of sacrifice at 30, 90, and 220 days of age (Cintra et al., '90; 532:271-277). Taken together, these two studies suggest that the postnatal adaptation of the granule cells to prenatal protein deprivation is primarily due to events that occur during pregnancy and that the site of predilection for the deficit is their dendrites in the outer two-thirds of the molecular layer of the fascia dentata.