title: Effect of high-fat diet during gestation, lactation, or postweaning on physiological and behavioral indexes in borderline hypertensive rats.
abstract: Maternal obesity is becoming more prevalent. We used borderline hypertensive rats (BHR) to investigate whether a high-fat diet at different stages of development has adverse programming consequences on metabolic parameters and blood pressure. Wistar dams were fed a high- or low-fat diet for 6 wk before mating with spontaneously hypertensive males and during the ensuing pregnancy. At birth, litters were fostered to a dam from the same diet group as during gestation or to the alternate diet condition. Female offspring were weaned on either control or "junk food" diets until about 6 mo of age. Rats fed the high-fat junk food diet were hyperphagic relative to their chow-fed controls. The junk food-fed rats were significantly heavier and had greater fat pad mass than those rats maintained on chow alone. Importantly, those rats suckled by high-fat dams had heavier fat pads than those suckled by control diet dams. Fasting serum leptin and insulin levels differed as a function of the gestational, lactational, and postweaning diet histories. Rats gestated in, or suckled by high-fat dams, or maintained on the junk food diet were hyperleptinemic compared with their respective controls. Indirect blood pressure did not differ as a function of postweaning diet, but rats gestated in the high-fat dams had lower mean arterial blood pressures than those gestated in the control diet dams. The postweaning dietary history affected food-motivated behavior; junk food-fed rats earned less food pellets on fixed (FR) and progressive (PR) ratio cost schedules than chow-fed controls. In conclusion, the effects of maternal high-fat diet during gestation or lactation were mostly small and transient. The postweaning effects of junk food diet were evident on the majority of the parameters measured, including body weight, fat pad mass, serum leptin and insulin levels, and operant performance.
authors.affiliation: Psychology, Univ of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-2250, USA.
authors.forename: Anaya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mitra
authors.forename: Kristin M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Alvers
authors.forename: Erica M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Crump
authors.forename: Neil E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Rowland
mesh_terms: D050154:Adiposity; D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging; D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D001794:Blood Pressure; D001835:Body Weight; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006824:Hybridization, Genetic; D006963:Hyperphagia / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood; D007774:Lactation; D020738:Leptin / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D039382:Maternal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D009042:Motivation; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D051381:Rats; D011918:Rats, Inbred SHR; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012201:Reward; D014886:Weaning
chemical_list: D004041:Dietary Fats; D007328:Insulin; D020738:Leptin