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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 295/4/E895    most recent 90460.2008v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Srinivasan, M. Articles by Patel, M. S. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Srinivasan, M. Articles by Patel, M. S.

Maternal obesity and fetal programming: effects of a high-carbohydrate nutritional modification in the immediate postnatal life of female rats

Departments of ¹Biochemistry, ²Medicine, ³Biotechnical and Clinical Laboratory Sciences, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, State University of New York; and ⁴Diabetes and Endocrinology Center of Western New York, Kaleida Health, Buffalo, New York

Submitted 22 May 2008 ; accepted in final form 30 July 2008

Our earlier studies have shown that the artificial rearing of newborn rat pups [first generation high carbohydrate (1-HC)] on an HC milk formula resulted in chronic hyperinsulinemia and adult-onset obesity (HC phenotype). Offspring [second-generation HC (2-HC)] of 1-HC female rats spontaneously acquired the HC phenotype in the postweaning period. In this study, we have characterized the development of the abnormal intrauterine environment in the 1-HC female rats and the effects on fetal development under such pregnancy conditions for the offspring. 1-HC female rats demonstrated hyperphagia on laboratory chow and increased body weight gain beginning from the immediate postweaning period along with hyperinsulinemia and hyperleptinemia. During pregnancy, 1-HC female rats showed several metabolic alterations including increased body weight gain and increased plasma levels of insulin, leptin, proinflammatory markers, and lipid peroxidation products. Although there were no significant changes in the body weights or litter size of term 2-HC fetuses, the plasma levels of insulin and leptin were significantly higher compared with those of control term fetuses. Quantitation of mRNA levels by real-time RT-PCR indicated significant increases in the mRNA levels of orexigenic neuropeptides in the hypothalamus of 2-HC term fetuses. Collectively, these results indicate that the HC diet in infancy results in an adverse pregnancy condition in female rats with deleterious consequences for the offspring.

immediate postnatal period; high-carbohydrate diet; fetal adaptations