QUANTIFICATION OF MEDIUM-MOLECULAR PEPTIDES (MMP) IN BRAIN STRUCTURES OF RATS WITH VARIED NERVOUS SYSTEM TYPES ACROSS DIFFERENT AGE GROUPS

Abstract

This study examines the impact of protein and protein-free nutrition on the quantity of MMP in various brain structures of rats with different nervous system types and ages. The animals were divided into stress-resistant and stress-unstable groups, with a control group selected from each category and kept in a vivarium. The experimental animals were divided into two subgroups and fed according to a special recipe for 10, 20, and 30 days. In the first subgroup, the recipe components were preserved (protein background nutrition), while in the second subgroup, casein was excluded from the recipe (protein-free nutrition background). At the end of the feeding period, the amount of MMP was determined in the homogenate of the tissues of the hypothalamus and the symmetrical sensomotor cortex of the left and right hemispheres of control and experimental rats. The study found that the amount of MMP in the sensomotor cortex of the left and right hemispheres and the hypothalamus increased in 3-month-old animals with both protein and proteinfree nutrition, but decreased in 12-month-old animals. Moreover, interhemispheric asymmetry was observed in the content of MMP in the sensomotor cortex of the left and right hemispheres in 3 and 12-month-old stress-resistant and stress-unstable animals, with protein and protein-free nutrition having the same effect.