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Salt intake during pregnancy alters offspring's myocardial structure

E N Alves-Rodrigues1, M M Veras, K T Rosa

  • 1Laboratory of Experimental Hypertension, University of São Paulo School of Medicine, São Paulo, Brazil.

Nutrition, Metabolism, and Cardiovascular Diseases : NMCD
|March 9, 2012
PubMed

Insights

High salt intake during pregnancy programs male offspring for cardiac changes. Adult male offspring exposed to high salt developed concentric left ventricular hypertrophy, independent of blood pressure and angiotensin II levels.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiovascular Physiology
  • Developmental Programming
  • Nutritional Science

Background:

  • Maternal diet during pregnancy can influence offspring's long-term health.
  • High salt intake is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of maternal salt intake on the adult male offspring's left ventricle.
  • To assess cardiac remodeling in response to chronic high salt exposure in offspring.

Main Methods:

  • Wistar rats were fed low, normal, or high salt diets during pregnancy.
  • Offspring were exposed to normal or high salt diets post-weaning.
  • Echocardiography, blood pressure, histology, and angiotensin II levels were analyzed.

Main Results:

  • High salt intake during pregnancy led to increased interventricular septum, left ventricular posterior wall, and relative wall thickness in offspring.
  • Offspring from high salt-fed dams showed increased cardiomyocyte volume when challenged with high salt.
  • No significant differences in angiotensin II or fibrosis were observed.

Conclusions:

  • Maternal high salt intake programs offspring for concentric left ventricular hypertrophy.
  • This cardiac remodeling occurs independently of blood pressure and angiotensin II.
  • The findings highlight the role of prenatal nutrition in cardiovascular programming.
Abstract

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