Feeding time matters? Influência da restrição alimentar temporal sobre aspectos motores e cognitivos em modelo crônico da doença de Parkinson em ratos

Abstract

Parkinson's disease (PD) stands as the second most prevalent global neurodegenerative condition, affecting over 10 million individuals worldwide, with heterogeneous clinical manifestations. Animal models such as reserpine are widely used to evaluate their physiological mechanisms and possible therapeutic interventions. Time-restricted feeding (TRF), defined as the temporal adjustment of food availability without caloric restriction emerges as a potential complementary treatment in neurodegenerative disorders. Here, we evaluated the motor and cognitive effects of a time-restricted feeding intervention in a rat model of Parkinson’s disease induced by reserpine. Male Wistar rats (3-4 months) were randomly assigned to five groups: two control groups, with one subgroup under food restriction for 30 days (Ctrl TRF) and another subgroup under ad libitum diet (Ctrl ad libitum), and three induced groups to parkinsonism, allocated into 3 subgroups: one under temporal food restriction for 60 days, starting 30 days before reserpine injections (Reserpine TRF pre); one under temporal food restriction for 30 days, starting with reserpine injections (Reserpine TRF); and the third under ad libitum feeding along with reserpine applications (Reserpine ad libitum). All animals were submitted the following tests: catalepsy test, oral movements, open field (OFT) and novel object recognition (NOR). All reserpine groups showed a progressive motor deficit, as observed in the catalepsy and vacuous chewing tests, but the TRF groups showed a delay in the onset of motor symptoms in comparison with their respective ad libitum group. Differences in performances on NOR test or OFT were not found between the reserpine groups after the intervention. Here we showed the promising effects of a time-restricted feeding diet on motor symptoms, but not cognitive symptoms caused by chronic exposure to reserpine. Further research is needed to explore the different effects of TRF on emotional and cognitive symptoms of PD