Search
Presentation Details
| Poster #216 Bitter maternal diet increases offspring bitter acceptance in 24-hr feeding trials but not brief-access taste tests |
| Verenice Ascencio Gutierrez1, Samantha L Brooker1, Kamila D Nixon1, Emily Demieri1, Jyothi Vasavan1, Ann-Marie Torregrossa1,2 1Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, United States 2Center for Ingestive Behavior Research, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, United States |
It has been well documented that offspring show increased acceptance for flavors consumed by the mother via indirect exposure through the amniotic fluid and/or maternal milk. Our lab has recently shown that in adult rats, repeated exposure to a diet alters the salivary proteins (SPs), which, in turn, alters the acceptance of the bitter diet. However, it is unclear if repeated exposure via the maternal diet (MD) alters the salivary proteome and diet acceptance of offspring. To test this, we gave female rats a 0.375% quinine maternal diet (Q-MD) or an equicaloric control diet (C-MD) from pre-breeding through lactation. Dams and offspring were housed in custom cages that limit offspring exposure to experimental diets by elevating the food cup. All pups were given the control diet at weaning on postnatal day (PD) 21. Q-MD offspring were smaller than C-MD offspring (p <0.05). Q-MD offspring showed higher expression of SPs we associate with quinine eating (23 and 37 kDa bands, p’s <0.05). A subset of the animals were fed the quinine diet between PD 35 and PD 40 during a two-day feeding trial. Offspring from quinine fed mothers ate more of the diet on the second day than those of control fed mothers (p = 0.05). A second group of animals was offered varying concentrations of quinine and sucrose in brief-access taste tests. C-MD and Q-MD offspring did not differ in taste-guided responding to quinine or sucrose (p’s > 0.05). These data suggest that maternal diet alters the rate of diet acceptance and demonstrates maternal diet has the capacity to alter the salivary proteome. |