Affiliation:
1. Institute of Biology of the Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences
2. Petrozavodsk State University
Abstract
The effects of light deprivation on age-related changes in body weight, food and water intake, as well as the activity of digestive enzymes in pancreatic tissues of male rats was studied. Animals were divided into three groups: the first was in standard light conditions (12 h light/12 h dark, control, LD), the second was kept under conditions of long-term light deprivation from the moment of birth (LD/DD), and the third – from the prenatal period (DD/DD). Prolonged keeping of rats under conditions of light deprivation led to disruption of the age-associated dynamics of the studied parameters, at the same time, the detected changes in response to a specific light condition differed depending on the stage of ontogenesis at which its exposure began. Thus, body mass (age 3 and 18 months) and food and water intake (12 months), amylase and lipase activities (18 months) were lower, and protease activities after the end of the stable growth stage (12, 18 and 24 months) were higher in LD/DD-rats than in LD-rats. Significant changes in the studied parameters were observed under DD/DD conditions in 12‑month-old and 18-month-old rats – body mass was the largest, and food and water intake were the lowest compared to LD and LD/DD. In addition, the maximum amylase activity (1 and 6 months) among the studied groups and the higher values of total proteolytic activity during the period of stable growth (6 and 12 months) were found in DD/DD-rats compared to controls. Thus, our results indicate that light deprivation disrupts the ontogenetic development program of the digestive system of mammals.
Publisher
The Russian Academy of Sciences