Maternal high-salt diet during pregnancy alters synaptic plasticity and memory in the offspring

Excess salt intake harms brain health and cognitive functions,but whether maternal high-salt diet(HSD)affect brain development and behaviors of next generations is still unclear.Here,we reported that the offspring of maternal HSD adult during pregnancy exhibit short-and long term memory deficit analyzed by the novel-place recognition assay and Barnes maze task.Moreover,using in vivo electrophysiology,we found maternal HSD also affected synaptic transmission and plasticity in hippocampus,which might underline the cognitive deficits.However,the amount of neuron had no changes in both cortex and hippocampus of adolescence and adult offspring.Finally,we identify altered expression of synaptic proteins as a potential molecular mechanism for synaptic dysfunction.