Cafeteria diet alters rat uterine morphology and foeto-placental development

GASTIAZORO MP; GUERRERO SCHIMPF M; ROSSETTI MF; LAZZARINO G; ANDREOLI MF; SCHUMACHER R; STOKER C; ZANARDI MV; DURANDO M; RAMOS JG; LUQUE EH; VARAYOUD J

Congreso; SLIMP Latin American Society for Maternal Fetal Interaction and Placenta; 2017

Maternal diet may be associated with fetal and placental growth restriction. We evaluated the cafeteria diet (CAF) effects on: 1) adult rat uterine morphology, 2) reproductive performance, 3) feto-placental growth on gestational day 21 (GD21), 4) weight of pups at birth and 4) ER alpha (ERα) mRNA expression in rat placentas. Twenty-one-day-old female Wistar rats were fed after weaning with a standard rodent chow diet (control group, C) or cafeteria diet (CAF group), with highly palatable energy dense foods that are prevalent in western society. Some animals were sacrificed on the first day of diestrous-stage, 20 weeks after treatment. The uterus were removed and included in paraffin for histological and immunohistochemical determination of ERα, Vimentin (Vim) and Ki67 (proliferation marker). Then, some animals were mated to evaluate the reproductive performance and to determine feto-placental weight and ERα mRNA expression on GD21-placentas by real-time RT-PCR analysis. The uterus of CAF group showed increased glandular and stromal areas, with a higher Vim expression in the stroma. All uterine compartments showed higher ERa expression. Ki67 expression was increased in luminal and glandular epithelium. CAF diet did not altered reproductive performance and fetal weight, however a clear decrease of GD21-placental weight, and a decrease of pup weights at birth were detected. Furthermore, the ERα mRNA expression was lower on CAF-placentas. CAF diet affected the uterine morphology and altered placental development with a lower weight of pups at birth.