Maternal High-Fat Diet-Induced Loss of Fetal Oocytes Is Associated with Compromised Follicle Growth in Adult Rat Offspring.

ABSTRACT: Maternal obesity predisposes offspring to metabolic and reproductive dysfunction. We have shown previously that female rat offspring born to mothers fed a high-fat (HF) diet throughout pregnancy and lactation enter puberty early and display aberrant reproductive cyclicity. The mechanisms driving this reproductive phenotype are currently unknown thus we investigated whether changes in ovarian function were involved. Wistar rats were mated and randomized to: dams fed a control diet (CON) or dams fed a HF diet from conception until the end of lactation (HF). Ovaries were collected from fetuses at Embryonic Day (E) 20, and neonatal ovaries at Day 4 (P4), prepubertal ovaries at P27 and adult ovaries at P120. In a subset of offspring, the effects of a HF diet fed postweaning were evaluated. The

SUBMITTER: Tsoulis MW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4861169 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature