Effects of dietary edible bird’s nest supplementation on hippocampal neurons of multigenerational mice

Edible bird’s nest (EBN) is a natural food product rich in glycoproteins such as sialic acid, minerals and essential amino acids. Sialic acid from EBN most effectively absorbs in the brain, where it plays a fundamental role in the ganglioside structure involved in the brain development and synaptic transmission, particularly in preterm infants. Nevertheless, the impact of multiple generations of EBN on brain cellular variations is not yet fully understood. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the impact of dietary EBN supplementation on brain neurons density and histology of multigenerational mice. A total of 40 females C57BL/6 mice as (F0) generation were equally distributed into four treatment and a control groups. Mice in the treatment groups were orally administered with four different sources of EBN for eight weeks. Subsequently, all mice were bred to produce the first generation (F1) followed by the second generation (F2). The sialic acid concentration in EBN samples was examined by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The brain tissue of all mice was collected for histological study. The research found that dietary EBN significantly increased the number of neurons in the hippocampus of three generations (F0, F1, and F2) compared to the control. Histological study showed that the average number of neurons was significantly (P<0.05) higher in EBN-South and EBN-North groups compared to control in F0, F1 and F2 generations. However, the population of neurons was not significantly (P>0.05) higher in EBN-Commercial and EBN-Borneo groups compared to control. The highest neuron density was found in the mice supplemented with EBN contained higher concentration of sialic acid. In conclusion, it was suggested that the sialic acid from maternal EBN supplementation during pregnancy transmitted to the next generations of mice, where it influenced the development and functions of the fetal brain.