Several aspects including physical development, reflex acquisition, neuromotor development and learning behavior at Y water maze were compared at the progeny of rats fed low(1.2mg/kg diet) or adequate leves(22mg/ kg diet) of pyridoxine during growth, gestation, lactation, and adult period.
Physical development and development of reflexes (righting reflex, cliff avoidance, negative geotaxis, palmar grasp, and startle reflex to sound) appeared different between control and deficient groups but not significantly. At the 2nd week, rats spent more time in supported standing during 3 minute observation period, which seemed to reflect emotional instability. At the 2nd and 3rd week, the average time pups spent in unsupported standing during 6 minute period was longer in the control than the deficient groups.
In the Y-water maze position reversal test, learning ability as judged by the number of errors was not different among three groups, but the rats in supplemented group (DC) reached the escape platform in significantly shorter time than the other two groups, which may suggest their emotional instability. In the visual discrimination test, the performance of rats from the supplemented group had the lower errors than the other groups on the early test days. But as the testing period progressed, the performance of rats in the supplemented group became inferior to those of the control and deficient groups. The performance of control group be-came superior to that of the deficient group.
|