Does Dietary Choline Supplementation Mitigate the Effects of Adolescent Stress on Working Memory in Rats?

Stress exposure during development increases risk of mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia. Choline is a dietary nutrient important for brain function, and rodent models demonstrate that supplementing the diet of pregnant dams with choline buffers the negative effects of prenatal stress on offspring anxiety and memory function in adulthood. However, it is unknown whether dietary choline supplementation during adolescence buffers the effects of adolescent stress. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that adolescent choline supplementation mitigates the effects of adolescent stress on working memory using the radial arm maze. If our hypothesis is correct, adolescent stress will impair memory function in stressed animals fed the control diet but not in stressed animals fed the choline-supplemented diet during adolescence. Sprague Dawley rats were exposed to mild, unpredictable stressors 2-3 times per day for 10 days during adolescence. Behavior testing in the radial arm maze began in adulthood. Dat a collection is currently in progress. If adolescent choline mitigates the effects of adolescent stress, we expect stressed animals fed a choline diet to perform better in the radial arm maze than stressed animals fed a standard diet. Such a result will suggest that adolescent choline intervention effectively mitigates the effects of stress experienced during adolescence. Since choline does not pose a threat to human health, choline may be an option for preventing adulthood stress when administered during adolescence.