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. 2024 Jan 27;16(3):381.
doi: 10.3390/nu16030381.

The Neuroprotective Role of Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa, Wild) Supplementation in Hippocampal Morphology and Memory of Adolescent Stressed Rats

Gonzalo Terreros  1   2 , Miguel Ángel Pérez  3 , Pablo Muñoz-LLancao  4 , Amanda D'Espessailles  1 , Enrique A Martínez  5 , Alexies Dagnino-Subiabre  2   6
Affiliations

The Neuroprotective Role of Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa, Wild) Supplementation in Hippocampal Morphology and Memory of Adolescent Stressed Rats

Gonzalo Terreros et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Brain physiology and morphology are vulnerable to chronic stress, impacting cognitive performance and behavior. However, functional compounds found in food may alleviate these alterations. White quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa, Wild) seeds contain a high content of n-3 fatty acids, including alpha-linolenic acid. This study aimed to evaluate the potential neuroprotective role of a quinoa-based functional food (QFF) in rats. Prepubertal male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed with rat chow or QFF (50% rat chow + 50% dehydrated quinoa seeds) and exposed or not to restraint stress protocol (2 h/day; 15 days). Four experimental groups were used: Non-stressed (rat chow), Non-stressed + QFF, Stressed (rat chow) and Stressed + QFF. Weight gain, locomotor activity (open field), anxiety (elevated plus maze, light-dark box), spatial memory (Y-maze), and dendritic length in the hippocampus were measured in all animals. QFF intake did not influence anxiety-like behaviors, while the memory of stressed rats fed with QFF improved compared to those fed with rat chow. Additionally, QFF intake mitigated the stress-induced dendritic atrophy in pyramidal neurons located in the CA3 area of the hippocampus. The results suggest that a quinoa-supplemented diet could play a protective role in the memory of chronically stressed rats.

Keywords: fatty acids; hippocampus; memory; quinoa; stress.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic drawing of the experimental design. Male Sprague-Dawley rats of 21 postnatal days (PND) were fed either with rat chow or quinoa functional food (QFF, (50% rat chow + 50% dehydrated quinoa seeds)). At PND 36, animals were submitted to a restraint protocol for 2 h per day for 15 days, establishing four groups (n = 27 per experimental group): non-stressed (rat chow), non-stressed + QFF, stressed, and stressed + QFF. At PND 52, motor and anxiety behavior were evaluated on the open field (OF), elevated plus maze (EPM), and light-dark box (LDB). Finally, at PND 53, the memory performance was evaluated on the Y-maze test, and brain tissue was used for Golgi staining. Created with BioRender.com.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Effect of diet type on body weight gain during the stress protocol: (A) Daily measure of body weight during the 15 days of stress protocol, and (B) total body weight gain at the end of day 15 of the stress protocol. There were no significant differences in body weight gain induced by diet intake. However, exposure to the restraint stress protocol was associated with a significant reduction in body weight in both rat chow and QFF groups (n = 9, in each). Values are expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 9). * p < 0.05, **** p < 0.0001. Non-significant, n.s; quinoa functional food, QFF.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Effect of diet type on locomotor activity measured in the open field test. (A) Total distance traveled (m) and (B) time spent in the center in an open-field test (s). Locomotor activity at PND 52 was not affected by the restraint stress protocol in any experimental group. The anxiety-like behavior measured by the time spent in the center of the field did not show a significant difference in any of the groups (n = 9, in each). Values are expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 9). Non-significant, n.s; quinoa functional food, QFF.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Effect of diet type on anxiety-like behavior measured in the elevated plus-maze and light-dark box test. (A) Total number of open arm entries made in the elevated plus-maze. Stress protocol significantly decreased the number of open-arm entries in both the rat chow and QFF groups. Anxiety levels measured in the EPM were not affected by diet. (B) Total number of light side entries made in the light-dark box test. Stressed animals had a smaller number of entries to the light side compared to the non-stressed animals in both the rat chow and QFF groups. Anxiety levels measured in LDB were not affected by diet between groups (n = 9, in each). Values are expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 9) * p < 0.05, *** p < 0.001. Non-significant, n.s; quinoa functional food, QFF.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Influence of quinoa functional food diet on Y-maze performance. Total number of entries made in the novel arm in the Y-maze. Chronic stress protocol induced spatial memory impairment in the rat chow but not in the QFF group (n = 9, in each). Values are expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 9), * p < 0.05, *** p < 0.001. Non-significant, n.s; quinoa functional food, QFF.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Effect of quinoa functional food on CA3 dendritic morphology. (A) Representative photographs and (B) quantification of the total dendritic length of CA3 pyramidal neurons in the hippocampus. QFF diet reduced the dendritic impairment induced by stress compared to the rat chow group (n = 9, in each). Values are expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 9), * p < 0.05, **** p < 0.0001. Non-significant, n.s; quinoa functional food, QFF.
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