Dietary restriction retards the age-associated loss of rat striatal dopaminergic receptors.

In male Wistar rats subjected to dietary restriction by alternate days of feeding and fasting the normal age-associated loss of striatal dopamine receptors in the brain was substantially retarded. The mean survival time of the rats on the restricted diet was increased by approximately 40 percent compared to control rats given free access to food. Dopamine receptor concentrations in striata of 24-month-old rats that had been on a restricted diet since weaning were 50 percent higher than those of control animals of the same age, and essentially comparable to 3- and 6-month-old control rats.