Litter Size Reduction Alters the Lipid Metabolism of Adult Male Rat Offspring of Dams Fed a Diet with Caloric Restriction

Abstract

Recent studies have showed that nutritional changes during critical periods of development can lead to permanent alterations in the metabolism of the offspring which can become more susceptible to chronic diseases in adult age. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of litter size on the body weight and the lipid metabolism of adult male offspring rats born to caloric restricted dams. Dams were fed with either ad libitum standard diet (C) or a 30% caloric restricted diet (R) throughout gestation. After birth, litters were reduced to eight pups or four pups in both C and R dams. All dams were fed ad libitum during lactation. After weaning (3 wk), the male rat offspring born to control dams (C8 and C4) and male rat offspring born to restricted dams (R8 and R4) were maintained in individual cages until they were 20 weeks old. An interaction between the diet of control or restricted dams and the litter size was observed for the hepatic lipid % (P=0.015). Reduction of litter size decreased the hepatic lipid % in control rats but increased it in rats to restricted dams. The caloric restriction in the dams decreased the hepatic lipids only in the large litter offspring, but no effect on the small litter was observed. There was no interaction between litter size reduction and the diet of the dams (P=0.689). The reduction of litter size induced an increase (P=0.035) of carcass weight, regardless the diet of the dams. No effects of caloric restriction during gestation and of the litter size on body weight (P=0.187) and on blood cholesterol (P=0.171) were found in C or R adult male rat offspring. It is concluded that the effect of reduction of litter size on hepatic lipid metabolism depends on the diet of the dams during gestation. The increase of carcass weight resulting from litter size reduction is not affected by the diet of the dams.Support or Funding InformationResearch supported by Institute of Biosciences