Compensatory adrenal hypertrophic response in fetuses of calorie-malnourished rats

Fetuses of ad libitum fed and calorie-restricted rats were unilaterally adrenalectomized on day 19. By day 20 ad libitum fed fetuses exhibited compensatory adrenal hypertrophy, but calorie-restricted fetuses did not. As this may be due to the elevated corticosteroid levels of the calorie-restricted dams, unilateral adrenalectomy was performed on fetuses of control and restricted rats bilaterally adrenalectomized on day 15. Fetuses of restricted and control rats exhibited compensatory hypertrophy. One effect of calorie restriction may be to increase the amount of maternal corticosteroids acting on the fetus.