Vitamin B6 Deficiency Induces Autism-Like Behaviors in Rats by Regulating mTOR-Mediated Autophagy in the Hippocampus

Figure 4

VB₆ deficiency suppressed GABA content and autophagy and accelerated apoptosis of neurons in hippocampus of offspring rats. The offspring rats obtained from pregnant mothers with VB₆ normality, VB₆ deficiency, or VB₆ supplement were constructed to evaluate autism-like behaviors. Hippocampal tissues were collected after sacrifice of offspring rats. (a) The concentration of GABA in rat hippocampus was measured by high-performance liquid chromatography. (b, c, d, and e) Western blot was applied to measure the levels of LC3 I, LC3 II, p62, mTOR, and p-mTOR proteins in the hippocampal tissues. GAPDH was used as the loading control. (f, g, h, and i) The number of apoptotic cells in rat hippocampal CA1 and CA3 areas was determined using TUNEL assay (×100 magnification, scale bar: 200 μm). Three rats/group. One-way analysis of variance with Tukey’s post-hoc test. VB₆: vitamin B6; GABA: gamma-aminobutyric acid; mTOR: mammalian target of rapamycin; p-mTOR: phosphor-mTOR; GAPDH: glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; TUNEL: TdT-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling; *** vs. Control; ^^^ vs. VB₆ lack.

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