Biochemical determinants of growth sparing during neonatal nutritional deprivation or enhancement: ornithine decarboxylase, polyamines, and macromolecules in brain regions and heart

ABSTRACT ABSTRACT. In order to elucidate the biochemical mechanisms operating to protect the brain from growth retardation in response to nutritional deprivation, comparisons were made of

markers of cellular development in brain regions (cerebellum, cerebral cortex, midbrain + brainstem) and in a tissue which is not spared (heart). Nutritional status of neonatal rats was

manipulated by increasing or decreasing the litter size beginning at birth, and development of DNA, RNA, and proteins followed throughout the neonatal period. In addition, we assessed the

activity and levels of ornithine decarboxylase and its metabolic products, the polyamines, which are known to coordinate macromolecule synthesis in immature tissue and to provide an early

index of perturbed development. Cardiac ornithine decarboxylase and polyamines were altered within 48 h of initiating the changes in litter size, and the direction and magnitude of these

biochemical effects were predictive of subsequent impairment or enhancement of organ growth and of cellular development. All three brain regions were buffered from growth alterations

relative to the heart, but the cerebellum, which undergoes major phases of cell replication later than the other two regions, was somewhat less protected. The spared brain regions also

showed evidence of compensatory hypertrophy in nutritional deprivation (increased protein/DNA ratio) which accounts for maintenance of growth in the presence of reduced cell numbers. Thus,

brain growth sparing involves specific cellular responses which are dependent on the maturational profile of each brain region. SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS EFFECT OF RIBOFLAVIN

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2022 ARTICLE PDF AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Department of Pharmacology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, 27710, North Carolina J M Bell, W L Whitmore, K L Queen, L

Orband-Miller & T A Slotkin Authors * J M Bell View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * W L Whitmore View author publications You can also

search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * K L Queen View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * L Orband-Miller View author publications You

can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * T A Slotkin View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints

and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Bell, J., Whitmore, W., Queen, K. _et al._ Biochemical Determinants of Growth Sparing during Neonatal Nutritional Deprivation or

Enhancement: Ornithine Decarboxylase, Polyamines, and Macromolecules in Brain Regions and Heart. _Pediatr Res_ 22, 599–604 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198711000-00024 Download

citation * Received: 16 March 1987 * Accepted: 09 July 1987 * Issue Date: 01 November 1987 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198711000-00024 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the

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