title: Vitamin A supplementation in early life affects later response to an obesogenic diet in rats.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the influence of supplementation with a moderate dose of vitamin A in early life on adipose tissue development and the response to an obesogenic diet later in life.
  
  
  METHODS
  During the suckling period, rat pups received a daily oral dose of retinyl palmitate corresponding to three times the vitamin A ingested daily from maternal milk. Control rats received the vehicle (olive oil). Short-term effects of treatment on gene expression and morphology of white adipose tissue (WAT) were analyzed in animals on the day after weaning (day 21). To study long-term effects, control and vitamin A-treated rats were fed, after weaning, a normal fat or a high-fat (HF) diet for 16 weeks.
  
  
  RESULTS
  WAT of vitamin A-treated young rats (day 21) was enriched in small adipocytes with a reduced expression of adipogenic markers (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ and lipoprotein lipase) and an increased cell proliferation potential as indicated by increased expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen. Increased retinoic acid (RA)-induced transcriptional responses were present in the tissues of vitamin A-treated young rats (day 21) including WAT. Vitamin A-treated rats developed higher adiposity than control rats on a HF diet as indicated by body composition analysis and increased WAT depot mass, adipocyte diameter, WAT DNA content, leptinemia and adipose leptin gene expression. Excess adiposity gain in vitamin A-treated rats developed in the absence of changes in body weight and was attributable to excess adipocyte hyperplasia. No differences in adiposity were observed between vitamin A-treated rats and control rats on a normal fat diet. Total retinol levels in WAT of vitamin A-treated rats were elevated at weaning (day 21) and normalized by day 135 of age.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Vitamin A intake in the early stages of postnatal life favors subsequent HF diet-induced adiposity gain through mechanisms that may relate to changes in adipose tissue development, likely mediated by RA.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Nutrition and Biotechnology-Nutrigenomics, University of the Balearic Islands and CIBER Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERobn), Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Granados
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Amengual
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ribot
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Musinovic
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ceresi
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: von Lintig
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Palou
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Bonet
mesh_terms: D052436:Adipose Tissue, White / Q000254:growth & development / Q000473:pathology*; D050154:Adiposity; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D000833:Animals, Suckling / Q000254:growth & development; D001835:Body Weight; D059305:Diet, High-Fat; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D004224:Diterpenes; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D047495:PPAR gamma / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D000084562:Retinyl Esters; D014801:Vitamin A / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014886:Weaning
chemical_list: D004224:Diterpenes; D047495:PPAR gamma; D000084562:Retinyl Esters; D014801:Vitamin A; C014794:retinol palmitate