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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Boston, Massachusetts » Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #156061
Title: EFFECTS OF ANTIOXIDANT DIETS ON AGE- AND HEAVY PARTICLE-INDUCED DISRUPTION OF OPERANT RESPONDING IN RATS

Author
item RABIN, BERNARD - UNIV OF MARYLAND BC
item JENKINS, DANIEL - UNIV OF MARYLAND BC
item Joseph, James
item Shukitt-Hale, Barbara

Submitted to: Society for Neuroscience Abstracts and Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/17/2003
Publication Date: 11/8/2003
Citation: Rabin, B.M., Jenkins, D.G., Joseph, J.A., Shukitt Hale, B. 2003. Effects of antioxidant diets on age- and heavy particle-induced disruption of operant responding in rats. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts and Proceedings.

Interpretive Summary: NOT NEEDED

Technical Abstract: Exposing rats to 56Fe particles (a ground-based model for exposure to cosmic rays) produces "accelerated aging", both in terms of dopaminergic function and in terms of behavior. Maintaining rats on antioxidant diets ameliorates the neurochemical and behavioral effects of both aging and irradiation. The present experiment was designed to evaluate the interaction between age and diet on the disruption of operant responding by exposure to 56Fe particles. Rats were maintained on either a control diet or diets containing 2% blueberry or strawberry extract for two months prior to and 1 week following exposure to 1.5 Gy of 56Fe particles using the alternating gradient synchrotron at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Following exposure the rats were shipped to University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) and trained to make a lever-pressing response for food reinforcement. When tested on an ascending fixed-ratio schedule 7 months following exposure (approx. 11 months old), all radiated rats fed both control or antioxidant diets showed response patterns similar to that of the unirradiated animals. When tested 12 months following irradiation (approx. 16 months old), the radiated rats fed the control or blueberry diets showed a deficit in responding at the higher ratios compared to the non-irradiated rats. In contrast, the radiated rats fed the diet containing strawberry extract showed no differences in the pattern of responding compared to the non-irradiated rats. These results suggest that some antioxidant diets can prevent some of the changes in operant responding that occur in older rats which have been exposed to 56Fe particles.