The morphological and developmental changes of the anterior commissure of male Wistar rats submitted to protein malnutrition in the postnatal period.

The aim of this project was to study the effects of protein malnutrition in the anterior commissure of male albino Wistar rats, submitted to diets with different levels of protein to evaluate the possible morphological and developmental changes of the myelinated nervous fibers and glial cells of this important neural structure during the postnatal period until 120 days of age. In this study the animals (dams and pups) were divided into three groups: the control group which received a commercial diet from the laboratory (22% protein); the nourished group which received a diet of 16% of protein (casein); and the malnourished group which received a diet of 6% of protein (casein). Rat pups were fed by lactating females during the lactation period.