Cafeteria diet alters rat uterine morphology and foeto-placental development

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

Puerto Varas

Congreso; SLIMP / SCHCF Joint Meeting 2017; 2017

Latin American Society for Maternal Fetal Interaction and Placenta and Sociedd Chilena de Ciencias Fisiologicas

Maternal diet may be associated with foetal and placental growth restriction. Objectives: We evaluated the cafeteriadiet effects on: 1) adult rat uterine morphology, 2) reproductive performance,3) foeto-placental growth on gestational day 21 (GD21), 4) weight of pups atbirth, and 4) estrogen receptor α (ERα) mRNAexpression in placentas. Methods: FemaleWistar rats were fed after weaning with a standard rodent chow diet (control(C)) or cafeteria diet (CAF) with highly palatable energy dense foods. Someanimals were sacrificed on diestrus, 20 weeks after treatment. The uterus wereincluded in paraffin for histological and immunohistochemical determination ofERα, vimentin and Ki67 (proliferation marker). Then, someanimals were mated to evaluate the reproductive performance and to determinefoeto-placental weight and ERα mRNA expression on GD21-placentasby QPCR analysis. Results: CAF groupshowed increased uterine glandular area expressed as volume density (Vv) (C 4.78 ± 0.76 vs CAF8.27 ± 1.87, P<0.05, n = 7) with ahigher vimentin expression in the periglandular stroma (C 0.276 ± 0.036 vs CAF0.404 ± 0.044). CAF group showed higher ERα and Ki67expression in: luminal epithelium (ERα C 2.2 arbitrary units (AU) ± 0.3 vsCAF 4.7 AU ± 0.5, Ki67 C 40.6% ± 5.1 vs CAF 68.1% ± 2.2); and glandularepithelium (ERα C 3.6 AU ± 0.2 vs CAF 8.7AU ± 1.0, Ki67 C 63.5% ± 5.1vs CAF 76.1% ± 1.4). CAF diet did not alter reproductive performance and foetalweight; however, a decrease of GD21-placental weight (C 0.507g ± 0.140 vs CAF0.440g ± 0.08), and pup weights at birth (C 5.683g ± 0.199 vs CAF 4.732g ±0.343) were detected. Furthermore, the ERα mRNArelative expression was lower (C 2.750 ± 1.033 vs CAF 1.516 ± 1.017) onCAF-placentas. Conclusion: CAF dietaffected the uterine morphology and altered placental development with a lowerweight of pups at birth.