The Influence of Adolescent Dietary Restriction on Memory Performance at 18 and 24 Months in Aged Wistar Rats

Abstract

Dietary restriction (DR), defined as a 20–40% reduction in food intake without malnutrition, impacts the organism depending on the age of onset and duration. The developmental window from postnatal day (PND) 28 to PND 60 in rats— spanning early through late adolescence—is a critical and highly sensitive period for dietary interventions, as it coincides with ongoing maturation of prefrontal, hippocampal and limbic systems that underlie adult social, emotional, and cognitive behaviors. This study investigated the effects of 30% DR applied to female Wistar rats during different adolescent phases: early (EADR, PND 28–35), middle (MADR, PND 35–42), and early plus middle adolescence (EMADR, PND 28– 42), compared to ad libitum (AL) controls. Animals were tested at 18 and 24 months using the novel object recognition (NOR) task for recognition memory and the Y maze spontaneous alternation test for spatial working memory. The NOR test results showed that at 18 months old animals short-term memory was preserved in the MADR and EMADR groups, while long-term memory was preserved in the EADR and MADR groups. On the other hand, Y maze results showed that EMADR preserved spatial working memory at both 18 and 24 months of age, as these females spent more time in a new arm of Y maze, compared to AL females of the same age. The effects of adolescent dietary restriction on memory preservation at 18 and 24 months were assessed, demonstrating that early-life caloric limitation preserves recognition and spatial memory in aged rats.Dragić M, editor. Book of abstracts: 9th Congress of Serbian Neuroscience Society; 2025 Oct 6-8; Belgrade, Serbia. Belgrade: Serbian Neuroscience Society; 2025