Effects of carrot puree with enhanced levels of chlorogenic acid on rat cognitive abilities and neural development

Abstract

In this study, the effect of carrot puree with enhanced levels of chlorogenic acid, obtained from carrots treated with wounding stress, on Lactobacillus concentration in microbiota, cognitive and brain development in two generations of rats was evaluated. Wistar rats were randomly assigned three different diets: control, 90% (w/w) control + 10% carrot puree (CP), and 90% control + 10% wounding stress carrot puree (WSCP). Wounding stress enhanced chlorogenic acid concentration ~4 times when compared to untreated CP (522 mg/kg). Rats treated with WSCP and CP diets increased the counts of Lactobacillus in the gut microbiota as compared with the control group (p ˂ 0.019) of the second generation. Myelin content of WSPC was significantly higher than control and CP groups in the first generation. In the second generation, myelin raised to 204 mg/g in WSCP group and this group had the highest RNA content. Overall, results indicate that WSCP improves brain development by increasing myelin concentration and RNA.