Effects of maternal hypocaloric diet feeding on neonatal rat brown adipose tissue

Hypocaloric diet (control diet diluted 1:1 with cellulose) feeding during pregnancy caused a reduction in the body weight of rat pups at birth whereas the main parameters of brown adipose tissue composition and thermogenic activity were unaffected. When prenatally underfed rat pups were nursed by untreated dams eating control diet during lactation, early (day 4 of life) and late (day 13 of life) neonatal body weight was rehabilitated and brown adipose tissue remained essentially unchanged. When prenatally underfed rat pups were nursed by dams that were fed with the hypocaloric diet during lactation, neonatal body weight continued lower at the two mentioned days of life and the overall thermogenic capacity of brown fat (GDP binding/g body weight) was substantially depressed. The reduction of the brown fat thermogenic capacity in these pups is mainly due to a hypotrophy of the mitochondrial component of the tissue as indicated by the lowered cytochrome oxidase activity. Results indicate that mild maternal underfeeding during lactation may depress brown adipose tissue thermogenic function in neonates whereas similar hypocaloric intakes during pregnancy did not alter brown fat thermogenic capacity.