This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Koukkou, E. Articles by Poston, L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Koukkou, E. Articles by Poston, L. Pubmed/NCBI databases Compound via MeSH Substance via MeSH Medline Plus Health Information Diabetes and Pregnancy Dietary Fats High Risk Pregnancy

(Circulation. 1998;98:2899-2904.)
© 1998 American Heart Association, Inc.

Basic Science Reports

Offspring of Normal and Diabetic Rats Fed Saturated Fat in Pregnancy Demonstrate Vascular Dysfunction

E. Koukkou, MD; P. Ghosh, BSc; C. Lowy, MD, FRCP, MSc; L. Poston, PhD

From the Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes (E.K., C.L.) and the Fetal Health Research Group (P.G., L.P.), United Medical and Dental Schools, St. Thomas' Hospital, London, UK.

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.

Methods and 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.

Key Words: nutrition • endothelium • pregnancy • arteries

This article has been cited by other articles:

				N. B. Ojeda, D. Grigore, and B. T. Alexander Developmental Programming of Hypertension: Insight From Animal Models of Nutritional Manipulation Hypertension, July 1, 2008; 52(1): 44 - 50. [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. M. Elahi, F. R. Cagampang, F. W. Anthony, N. Curzen, S. K. Ohri, and M. A. Hanson Statin Treatment in Hypercholesterolemic Pregnant Mice Reduces Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Their Offspring Hypertension, April 1, 2008; 51(4): 939 - 944. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. Gallou-Kabani, A. Vige, M.-S. Gross, C. Boileau, J.-P. Rabes, J. Fruchart-Najib, J.-P. Jais, and C. Junien Resistance to high-fat diet in the female progeny of obese mice fed a control diet during the periconceptual, gestation, and lactation periods Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab, April 1, 2007; 292(4): E1095 - E1100. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. R. Gale, B. Jiang, S. M. Robinson, K. M. Godfrey, C. M. Law, and C. N. Martyn Maternal Diet During Pregnancy and Carotid Intima-Media Thickness in Children Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol., August 1, 2006; 26(8): 1877 - 1882. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				O. A. Khan, C. Torrens, D. E. Noakes, L. Poston, M. A. Hanson, L. R. Green, and S. K. Ohri Effects of pre-natal and early post-natal undernutrition on adult internal thoracic artery function Eur. J. Cardiothorac. Surg., December 1, 2005; 28(6): 811 - 815. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				O A Khan and C Shearman Is there a fetal origin of peripheral vascular disease? Heart, July 1, 2005; 91(7): 869 - 870. [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. B. Wichi, S. B. Souza, D. E. Casarini, M. Morris, M. L. Barreto-Chaves, and M. C. Irigoyen Increased blood pressure in the offspring of diabetic mothers Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol, May 1, 2005; 288(5): R1129 - R1133. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				I. Khan, V. Dekou, M. Hanson, L. Poston, and P. Taylor Predictive Adaptive Responses to Maternal High-Fat Diet Prevent Endothelial Dysfunction but Not Hypertension in Adult Rat Offspring Circulation, August 31, 2004; 110(9): 1097 - 1102. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. M. Mone, M. W. Gillman, T. L. Miller, E. H. Herman, and S. E. Lipshultz Effects of Environmental Exposures on the Cardiovascular System: Prenatal Period Through Adolescence Pediatrics, April 1, 2004; 113(4/S1): 1058 - 1069. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				I. Y. Khan, P. D. Taylor, V. Dekou, P. T. Seed, L. Lakasing, D. Graham, A. F. Dominiczak, M. A. Hanson, and L. Poston Gender-Linked Hypertension in Offspring of Lard-Fed Pregnant Rats Hypertension, January 1, 2003; 41(1): 168 - 175. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. E. Belevych, R. Beck, P. Tammaro, L. Poston, and S. V. Smirnov Developmental changes in the functional characteristics and expression of voltage-gated K+ channel currents in rat aortic myocytes Cardiovasc Res, April 1, 2002; 54(1): 152 - 161. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. E Bertram and M. A Hanson Animal models and programming of the metabolic syndrome: Type 2 diabetes Br. Med. Bull., November 1, 2001; 60(1): 103 - 121. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]