Figure : les images montrent des coupes de néocortex d’embryons de souris à 14,5 jours de gestation qui ont été soumis à un régime alimentaire maternel contrôle ou carencé en méthionine pendant 5 jours. Les noyaux de toutes les cellules apparaissent en rouge et les neurones en bleu. Dans la condition de carence en méthionine, on voit une diminution de l’épaisseur du néocortex associée à un déficit du nombre de neurones.
While a number of studies have shown the beneficial effects of reducing methionine intake in the diet, Alice Davy, her team Sulov Saha, Clémence Debacq, Christophe Audouard, Thomas Jungas, Fawal Mohamad-Ali, David Ohayon (MCD-CBI), and their colleagues, including Clément Chapat (MCD-CBI), have revealed in the mouse model that even a transient deficiency of this amino acid during gestation disrupts foetal brain growth. This effect is reversible, but catching up affects the proportion between nerve cells and glial cells.
In mammals, each individual is born with a stock of neurons that will be retained throughout life, and almost all the neurons – several tens of billions – present in the adult brain are produced during gestation.
The progenitor cells that generate neurons absolutely must have a sufficient supply of amino acids, lipids and other nutrients in order to maintain a high rate of division. Among these amino acids, methionine, which cannot be synthesised de novo, must be provided by the diet.
Latest news
