Starvation impairs learning ability during development by regulating neurodevelopment-related genes in Caenorhabditis elegans

Controlling weight through starvation is a popular phenomenon among Chinese teenagers, according to our self-made questionnaire. However, the potential side effects on teenagers have not been clearly identified. In this research, C. elegans in developing age was utilised as a model organism to identify the impact of starvation on learning ability, including associative and non-associative learning. The impaired learning ability and changes in some essential physiological indicators were observed after starvation. Then, the change in the relative expression level of nine neurodevelopment-related genes affected by starvation was further investigated by RT-qPCR. The downregulation of eat-4 and the upregulation of casy-1 and tph-1 were detected after starvation. Furthermore, homology analysis revealed that the human homolog of eat-4 is SLC17A7/VGLUT1, suggesting a similar starvation mechanism in humans. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that starvation could impair the learning ability of C. elegans through the regulation of neurodevelopment-related genes.