Abstract
By using different experimental designs in the rat we have been able to answer several unanswered questions on the short- and long-term effects of alterations of lipid metabolism during the perinatal stage. The first was to demonstrate the importance of maternal body fat accumulation during the first half of pregnancy, since undernutrition in this critical period when fetal growth is slow, impedes fat depot accumulation and not only restrains intrauterine development but has long-term consequences, as shown by an impaired glucose tolerance when adults. Secondly, undernutrition during suckling has major long-term effect of decreasing body weight, even though food intake is kept normal from the weaning period. Our findings also show that a diet rich in n-3 fatty acids during pregnancy and lactation has adverse effects on offspring development, but cross fostered experiments showed that this effect was a consequence of the intake of these fatty acids during the lactation period rather than during pregnancy. Pups from dams that were fed a fish oil-rich diet during pregnancy and lactation were found to have altered glucose/insulin relationship at the age of 10 weeks. Since a n-3 fatty acid-rich diet decreases milk yield during lactation, additional experiments were carried out to determine whether decreased food intake or altered dietary fatty acid composition, or both, were responsible for the long-term effects on the glucose/insulin axis.
Results show that the decreased food intake caused by a n-3 fatty acid-rich diet rather than the change in milk composition during suckling was responsible for the reduced pancreatic glucose responsiveness to insulin release at 16 weeks of age.
In conclusion, present findings indicate that impaired maternal fat accumulation during early pregnancy and food intake during lactation, rather than a difference in dietary fatty acid composition, have major effects on postnatal development and affect glucose/insulin relationships in adult rats.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Amusquivar E and Herrera E. Influence of changes in dietary fatty acids during pregnancy on placental and fetal fatty acid profile in the rat. Biol Neonate 83: 136–145, 2003.
Amusquivar E, Rupérez FJ, Barbas C and Herrera E. Low arachidonic acid rather than α-tocopherol is responsible for the delayed postnatal development in offspring of rats fed fish oil instead of olive oil during pregnancy and lactation. J Nutr 130: 2855–2865, 2000.
Barker DJP. Fetal origin of adult disease. In: Fetal and Neonatal Physiology, edited by Polin RA, Fox WW and Abman SH. Philadelphia: Saunders, 2004, p. 160–165.
Bonet B and Herrera E. Different response to maternal hypothyroidism during the first and second half of gestation in the rat. Endocrinology 122: 450–455, 1988.
Bonet B and Herrera E. Maternal hypothyroidism during the first half of gestation compromises normal catabolic adaptations of late gestation in the rat. Endocrinology 129: 210–216, 1991.
Herrera E. Metabolic adaptations in pregnancy and their implications for the availability of substrates to the fetus. Eur J Clin Nutr 54,Suppl. 1: S47–S51, 2000.
Herrera E. Lipid metabolism in pregnancy and its consequences in the fetus and newborn. Endocrine 19: 43–55, 2002.
Herrera E and Lasunción MA. Maternal-fetal transfer of lipid metabolites. In: Fetal and neonatal physiology, edited by Polin RA, Fox WW and Abman SH. Philadelphia: W.B.Saunders Co., 2004, p. 375–388.
Herrera E, Lasunción MA, Gomez Coronado D, Aranda P, Lopez Luna P and Maier I. Role of lipoprotein lipase activity on lipoprotein metabolism and the fate of circulating triglycerides in pregnancy. Am J Obstet Gynecol 158: 1575–1583, 1988.
Herrera E, Muñoz C, Lopez-Luna P and Ramos P. Carbohydrate-lipid interactions during gestation and their control by insulin. Brazilian J Med Biol Res 27: 2499–2519, 1994.
Lopez Luna P, Maier I and Herrera E. Carcass and tissue fat content in the pregnant rat. Biol Neonate 60: 29–38, 1991.
Lopez Tejero D, Ferrer I, Llobera M and Herrera E. Effects of prenatal ethanol exposure on physical growth, sensory reflex maturation and brain development in the rat. Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol 12: 251–260, 1986.
López-Soldado, I. and Herrera, E. Different diabetigenic response to moderate doses of streptozotocin in pregnant rats, and long-term consequences in the offspring. Int.J.Exp.Diabetes Res. 4: 107–118, 2003.
Lucas A. Programming by early nutrition: an experimental approach. J Nutr 128: 401S–406S, 1998.
Lucas A, Fewtrell MS and Cole TJ. Fetal origins of adult disease-the hypothesis revisited. Br Med J 319: 245–249, 2000.
Ozanne SE and Hales CN. Early programming of glucose-insulin metabolism. Trends Endocrinol Metab 13: 368–373, 2002.
Ramos MP, Crespo-Solans MD, Del Campo S, Cacho J and Herrera E. Fat accumulation in the rat during early pregnancy is modulated by enhanced insulin responsiveness. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 285: E318–E328, 2003.
Sampson DA and Jansen GR. Measurement of milk yield in the lactating rat from pup weight and weight gain. J Pediatr Gastroent Nutr 3: 613–617, 1984.
Sidebottom AC, Brown JE and Jacobs DR, Jr. Pregnancy-related changes in body fat. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol 94: 216–223, 2001.
Villar J, Cogswell M, Kestler E, Castillo P, Menendez R and Repke JT. Effect of fat and fat-free mass deposition during pregnancy on birth weight. Am J Obstet Gynecol 167: 1344–1352, 1992.
Waterland RA and Garza C. Early postnatal nutrition determines adult pancreatic glucose-responsive insulin secretion and islet gene expression in rats. J Nutr 132: 357–364, 2002.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2005 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Herrera, E., López-Soldado, I., Limones, M., Amusquivar, E., Ramos, M. (2005). Experimental Models for Studying Perinatal Lipid Metabolism. In: Koletzko, B., Dodds, P., Akerblom, H., Ashwell, M. (eds) Early Nutrition and its Later Consequences: New Opportunities. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 569. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3535-7_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3535-7_14
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-3534-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-3535-7
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)