Gestational undernutrition and the development of obesity in rats

The effects of early gestational undernutrition and subsequent refeeding patterns on offspring food intake, body weight and adiposity were examined. Pregnant rats were food restricted to 50% of their preconception intake levels during the first 2 weeks of pregnancy and were then either returned to ad libitum feeding or pair-fed to nonrestricted control rats. Male and female offspring of previously deprived, ad libitum refed mothers gained significantly more weight when fed a standard low fat, high carbohydrate diet than did control offspring. When the maintenance diet was changed at 140 days of age to a high fat diet, both groups of previously deprived male offspring gained weight at greater than control rates. In contrast, the three groups of female rats gained weight at comparable rates after the diet change. Adipocyte hypertrophy and elevated carcass lipid content were seen in high fat-fed male but not female offspring of previously deprived mothers. Adipose tissue lipoprotein lipase activity was unaffected by these manipulations.