Impact of maternal food restriction on cold-induced thermogenesis in the offspring

Abstract

Food restriction imposed during pregnancy usually leads to many alterations in the development of the conceptus. Some of these alterations can be reverted after birth by adequate nutritional rehabilitation, while there are others which are permanent. the aim of this article is to study the influence of maternal food restriction on offspring thermoregulation. Offspring of dams with food restriction during pregnancy (50%) were fed ad libitum after weaning. Rectal temperature was measured every 15 days from weaning to the 90th day of life. From the 60th to the 90th day the animals were either acclimated at 25 or 5degreesC. On the 90th day the animals were killed and their carcasses were processed for energy balance analysis and body composition determination. the results showed that animals from food-restricted mothers were not able to maintain body temperature for a longer period of time than the pups from control dams. Energy balance parameters and body composition did not show significant differences between rats from control and food-restriction mothers at the same environmental temperature. Thus, the results suggest that intrauterine food restriction may delay the development of the hypothalamus-thyroid axis which, in turn, may affect brown adipose tissue development leading to inefficient thermoregulation during neonatal life. Copyright (C) 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel.