DISTURBANCE OF PLACENTAL AND FETAL RAT DEVELOPMENT CAUSED BY CAFETERIA DIET

GUERRERO SCHIMPF ML; STOKER C; VARAYOUD J; ROSSETTI MF ; RAMOS JG; GASTIAZORO MP; SCHUMACHER R; LUQUE EH

Buenos Aires

Jornada; XVIII JORNADAS ANUALES MULTIDISCIPLINARIAS DE LA SOCIEDADARGENTINA DE BIOLOGÍA; 2016

Sociedad Argentina de Biologia

Obesity isincreasingly common in Western societies and is associated with fetal andplacental growth restriction. The mechanism underlying the fetal and placentalgrowth restriction is unknown. In addition, estrogens, through estrogenreceptors (ERs) affect placental and fetal development. The aim was evaluatethe cafeteria diet (CAF) effects on: 1) reproductive performance, 2) fetal andplacental growth on gestational day 21 (GD21), 3) weight of pups at birth and4) expression of ER alpha (ERa) mRNA in rat placentas on DG21.Twenty-one-day-old female Wistar rats were fed after weaning with a standardrodent chow diet (control) or cafeteria diet (CAF) withhighly palatable energy dense foods. On postnatal day 90, rats were matedto evaluate the reproductive performance, placental and fetal weight, andplacental-fetal weight ratio. Total RNA from the frozen placenta samples(GD21) was extracted and subjected to real-time RT-PCR analysis of ERatranscripts. The CAF diet did not alterreproductive performance and fetal weights, however CAF group showed a decreaseplacental weight, placental-fetal weight ratio, and weight of pups at birth.Furthermore, the ERα mRNA expression was lower in CAF group. Theseresults suggest that CAF diet alters the fetal and placental developmentwith a down regulation of ERα mRNA expression in placental tissues