The influence of nutrition on neural and behavioral development. II. Growth of body and brain in infant rats using different techniques of undernutrition

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Abstract
Two techniques were used for producing undernutrition in infant rats and their effects on the growth of the body and the brain were investigated. In one procedure, the mothers were fed ad lib and the size of their litters was varied (5, 10, and 16 pups). In the other, litter size was kept constant at 8 pups per mother but during lactation the mothers either were fed ad lib or their food intake was restricted to 40% or 20% of normal consumption. The latter procedure was found to be the more reliable way of producing experimental retardation in the growth of the body and of the brain during the preweaning period. The failure of both procedures in producing retardation of brain growth during the first week of life is discussed.