Pre-weaning dietary iron deficiency impairs spatial learning and memory in the cognitive holeboard task in piglets.

ABSTRACT: Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency in humans, affecting more than two billion people worldwide. Early-life iron deficiency can lead to irreversible deficits in learning and memory. The pig represents a promising model animal for studying such deficits, because of its similarities to humans during early development. We investigated the effects of pre-weaning dietary iron deficiency in piglets on growth, blood parameters, cognitive performance, and brain histology later in life. Four to six days after birth, 10 male sibling pairs of piglets were taken from 10 different sows. One piglet of each pair was given a 200 mg iron dextran injection and fed a control milk diet for 28 days (88 mg Fe/kg), whereas the other sibling was given a saline injection and fed an iron defic

SUBMITTER: Antonides A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4626557 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature