title: Offspring of normal and diabetic rats fed saturated fat in pregnancy demonstrate vascular dysfunction.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Disturbances of the in utero environment may "program" for disease in later life. In this study, we determined whether dietary fat supplementation and/or diabetes in pregnancy can adversely affect vascular function in the offspring.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Female Sprague-Dawley rats were fed a breeding diet or a diet high in saturated fat (30% wt/wt) for 10 days before mating, throughout pregnancy, and postpartum. Endothelium-dependent relaxation to acetylcholine was blunted in isolated femoral arteries of 15-day-old weanling pups from dams fed the 30%-fat diet. Endothelial dysfunction and enhanced constrictor responses to norepinephrine were also observed in an additional study of 60-day-old offspring of dams fed 20% saturated fat. Rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes were also fed saturated fat during pregnancy. Femoral arteries from their 15-day-old offspring showed impairment of endothelium-dependent dilation and enhanced constrictor responses to norepinephrine and the thromboxane mimetic U46619 compared with young offspring of high-fat-fed normal dams. The 30%-fat diet was also deleterious to vascular function in the maternal diabetic animals when assessed in mesenteric arteries 16 days postpartum.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A high-fat diet in pregnancy led to vascular dysfunction in rat weanlings and young adult offspring. Vascular function further deteriorated in weanlings if the maternal rat was diabetic.
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes, United Medical and Dental Schools, St. Thomas' Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Koukkou
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lowy
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Poston
mesh_terms: D000109:Acetylcholine / Q000494:pharmacology; D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005260:Female; D005263:Femoral Artery / Q000503:physiopathology; D019270:Fructosamine / Q000097:blood; D008638:Mesenteric Arteries / Q000503:physiopathology; D009126:Muscle Relaxation / Q000187:drug effects; D009131:Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / Q000503:physiopathology; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000494:pharmacology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011254:Pregnancy in Diabetics / Q000097:blood; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D014661:Vasoconstriction / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D004041:Dietary Fats; D005227:Fatty Acids; D019270:Fructosamine; D000109:Acetylcholine; D009638:Norepinephrine