Recent work from the Principle Investigator's laboratory suggests that previous animal research has greatly underestimated the role adequate diet early in life plays in cognitive development. The general aim of the proposed research is to clarify that role. To do this a model of """"""""normal"""""""" cognitive development in the rat will be employed to assess the effects of early-life malnutrition (ELM). The specific goals of the proposed research are to identify (a) the kinds of cognitive capacities that are vulnerable during development to the effects of ELM, (b) the major parameters of postnatal ELM that contribute to impaired cognitive development, and (c) to study the effects of prenatal ELM for its effects on cognitive development. It is first important to document the extent ELM impacts on cognitive development and to thoroughly understand the parameters that determine its influence. With this information, we hope to develop dietary and pharmacological procedures that may lessen the impact of ELM. Since a large portion of the world's children suffer nutritional deficits early in life, an understanding of how inadequate diets alter cognitive development is much needed.
