Photoperiod interacts with food restriction in performance in the Barnes maze in female California mice.

ABSTRACT: Food restriction has been reported to have positive effects on cognition. This study examines how another environmental factor, daylength, can alter the impact of food restriction on the brain and behavior. Female California mice (Peromyscus californicus), housed on either long days (16 h of light and 8 h of darkness) or short days (8 h of light and 16 h of darkness), were restricted to 80% of their normal baseline food intake or provided with food ad libitum. Testing in a Barnes maze revealed that the effects of food restriction depended on photoperiod, and that these effects differed for acquisition vs. reversal learning. During acquisition testing, food restriction increased latency to finding the target hole in short-day mice but not in long-day mice. In reversal testing, food restrict

SUBMITTER: Steinman MQ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3059189 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature