title: Consumption of a high fat diet impairs reproductive performance in Sprague-Dawley rats.
abstract: Rats made obese by cafeteria feeding have poor reproductive outcomes. To investigate this phenomenon in animals fed a more nutritionally adequate diet, female rats were fed either a high fat (HF) (modified AIN-76A, 35 g fat/100 g diet) or a control (C) (AIN-76A, 5 g fat/100 g diet), diet, beginning at 27 d of age. To assess reproductive performance, rats were studied at d 0, 5 and 18 of pregnancy and on d 3 of lactation. Pregnancy rates were significantly (P < 0.001) lower in the high fat-fed rats than in the control-fed rats (56.4 and 89.1%, respectively). There was no difference between groups in total pregnancy weight gain or the proportion of weight gained during pregnancy that was retained by the dam. High fat-fed dams tended to gain weight more rapidly early in gestation than control-fed dams and then less rapidly than control-fed dams during the last week of gestation. Litter number and pup weight at birth did not differ between groups, but of high fat-fed pups had significantly higher (P < 0.04) mortality rates than pups of control-fed dams (16.5 and 7.7%, respectively) over the first 3 d of life. Control-fed dams experienced the expected reduction (P < 0.05) in plasma insulin concentrations between the end of pregnancy and early lactation, but high fat-fed dams did not. Thus, physiological mechanisms controlling distribution of metabolic fuels may not be functioning properly in high fat-fed dams. Therefore, consuming a high fat diet reduces a rat's capacity to conceive and ability to maintain her litter during the perinatal period.
authors.affiliation: Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Rasmussen
authors.forename: T R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Myers
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D005306:Fertilization / Q000187:drug effects*; D005313:Fetal Death / Q000209:etiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D004041:Dietary Fats