Maternal dietary intake of lipoic acid during pregnancy and lactation influences metabolism and weight gain in the wistar rat offspring.

MARIANELA VARA-MESSLER; FRANCISCO ESMORIZ; DANTE BELTRAMO; MARIA BELEN RABAGLINO; MARIA JOSE MOREIRA-ESPINOZA

Buenos Aires

Conferencia; Reunión Conjunta de Sociedades de Biociencias; 2017

Lipoic acid (LA) is an antioxidant that easily diffuses trough biological membranes after oral intake. The anti-obesogenic properties of LA are given by a modification of genes related with metabolism and energy expenditure. On the other hand, the fetal period is characterized by strong changes in gene expression that if altered, can influence the phenotype of the organism in the postnatal life. The objective was to determine the effect of maternal intake of LA -during the period that the appetite regulatory network is established in the fetal rat- on lipid deposition and metabolism in the adult offspring. Pregnant Wistar rats were fed ad-libitum with ground food + LA (200 mg/kg) from day 14 of gestation to day 20 of lactation (n=3) or ground food (n=3). After litter reduction, 12 males and 12 females born from the LA fed rats (LA, n=24) or not (Control, n=24) were used to evaluate weekly body weight, food intake, plasmatic levels of cholesterol, glucose and triglycerides and IL6 levels in liver homogenates trough ELISA at 3 months of age. The effect of group was analyzed by t-test for each gender. Compared to Control rats, overall body weight for AL rats was 11.4% heavier for males (pp