Short-term mastication after weaning upregulates GABAergic signalling and reduces dendritic spine in thalamus

Mastication enhances brain function and even mental health, but little is known molecular basis underlying the effects of chewing on neural development in early childhood we conducted experiment with rats fed a with soft or hard chow diet immediately after weaning and investigated the expression of genes were investigated after another 8 days of breeding. These results suggest that mastication in the early developing period upregulates GABAergic signaling genes, with a decrease of spine pruning in thalamus As a preparatory phase of the breeding process, the rats were provided with powdered feed and water for two days to get, ad libitum. After that, the rats were divided into two groups in a manner such that the average weight is approximately the same between the groups. One group was fed a powdered feed (powder, P), other group was fed a solid feed (chow, C) for eight days.