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| Poster #281 The Impact of Maternal High Fat and High Saccharin Diet on Offspring Taste Processing |
| Katherine Headley , Elsa Shaikh, Veronica L. Flores Furman University , Greenville , SC, United States |
Experience and the integration of sensory information work together to modify behavior. These experience-related changes in both behavior and neural circuitry have been historically highlighted in both adulthood and development. Research in experience-expectant learning has shown that the neurotypical development of the visual and auditory sensory systems is highly dependent on early life experiences with sound and light, sometimes as early as in the womb. There has been comparatively less research on the impacts of experience on the development of chemosensory systems. The impact of experience on the development of the taste system is important to explore since olfactory and gustatory experiences play a significant role in survival, wellbeing, and quality of life.Here, we test how experience with a high fat diet (HFD - Research Diets INC 60% Kcal from fat) or a control-fat diet (Research Diets INC 15% Kcal from fat) supplemented with high saccharin consumption (HSD – ad lib consumption of 0.0055M saccharin) experienced through the mother during gestation and lactation impacts sucrose-related cFOS expression in gustatory cortex in adolescent Long Evans rat offspring (n = 41) as compared to controls. We report a statistically significant difference in weight, blood glucose, and sucrose consumption for the HFD and HSD groups when compared to controls. We also report a significant increase in sucrose-related cFOS activity in gustatory cortex following HSD and a decrease following a HFD when compared to controls. These findings suggest that food and taste experiences occurring during specific periods of early development hold a developmentally unique significance for later taste processing. |