Premium
The Effect of Different Diets on the Behavior of Adult Sprague Dawley Rats
Author(s) -
Jowhar Sadeem Hussein,
AlNaemi Hamda,
Afifi Nahla Maher
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.20.4.a378-d
Subject(s) - sniffing , endocrinology , biting , medicine , zoology , biology , anatomy , ecology
Recently, it has been reported that the diet components may influence the mood and behavior. So the aim of this study is to examine the behavioral effects of the high protein & high carbohydrate diets. Twenty four male Sprague Dawley rats weighing 200–260 gm were divided into 3 groups: group 1(control fed commercial rats pellets), group 2(75% high protein diet) and group 3(75% complex carbohydrate diet). The other 25% of the diet was the commercial rat’s pellets. Social interaction was assessed at day 4 & day 14 of the experiment. Measurements of the investigative behav.(Sniffing, following, grooming, crawling), fighting behav. (mounting/jumping, biting, boxing/wrestling, pinning) and rearing behav. (Leaning on wall/standing on hind paws in the centre of the arena) were recorded as Hanstock et al., (2004). The results indicated a significant increase in investigative behavior in group 2 & 3 at day 14. Fighting behavior was significantly elevated at day 4 in both group 2 (P<0.01) & group 3 (P<0.05) but only in group 2 at day 14 (P<0.05) compared to the control. Measuring noradrenaline (NA) & insulin in plasma by ELISA technique revealed a significant increase (P<0.05) in NA at day 4 in group 2(28.3±1.8) & group 3(23.15±2.6) compared to the control (16.56 ±1.7) ng/ml. Plasma insulin, showed insignificant changes in both group 2& 3. Neither pH nor triglyceride levels were changed in all groups. The data indicated that the increased in the fighting behavior at day 4 in group 2&3 is associated with increased NA level. This may be due to changing the type of diet. Further investigation is recommended to elaborate the mechanism involved in the behavioral changes observed in this experiment. This research is supported by Qatar University.