Malnutrition during lactation as a metabolic imprinting factor inducing the feeding pattern of offspring rats when adults: The role of insulin and leptin

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to determine the impact of malnutrition during early postnatal life and the feeding pattern of rat offspring when adults (2 months and 1 year old). In comparison with rats normally fed during lactation, we observed that adult offspring displayed a faster process of feeding reduction when a protein-free diet was offered. In addition, we studied the concentration of insulin and leptin in the lactating pups (10 days) and when these offspring became adult after the onset of a new feeding pattern induced by the proteinfree diet. When the diet was changed at 60 days, the offspring malnourished during lactation displayed, after 3 days, a food intake reduction around 41.4 vs 14.2% of the control group. At 10 days of life, plasma leptin and insulin were higher in the malnourished pups when compared with normally fed rats (leptin: 4.6 ± 0.8 vs 2.25 ng/ml; insulin: 0.73 ± 0.12 vs 0.22 ± 0.03 ng/ml) while at 60 days they showed reduction of both hormones when compared with the control group (leptin: 1.03 ± 0.25 vs 1.43 ± 0.5 ng/ml; insulin: 0.54 ± 0.3 vs 0.61 ± 0.4 ng/ml). Despite the different food intake reductions, the malnourished and control rats displayed a similar reduction of insulin and leptin after 3 days of protein-free diet (from 60 to 63 days). The data suggest that the high concentration of insulin and leptin found at 10 days in the malnourished pups may elicit a sustained long-term and unique feeding pattern.

Maternal malnutrition during lactation alters the folliculogenesis and gonadotropins and estrogen isoforms ovarian receptors in the offspring at puberty

“…It has been shown that AR and ERb double knockout mice do not undergo luteinization and corpus luteum formation (Fisher et al 1998, Couse et al 1999, Britt et al 2000, Dupont et al 2000. Also, since some signaling events that are critical for the final follicle growth and eventual ovulation are altered by perinatal malnutrition, like leptin (Teixeira et al 2002), insulin (Moura et al 2002) etc., we can suggest that a high LHR expression was not capable of stimulating the final maturation of Graafian follicles without the presence of those signaling factors.…”

Epidemiologia nutricional

“…O resultado de tais adaptações pode ser observado quando estudamos hormônios, tais como a insulina, para os quais o organismo aumenta a sua sensibilidade no momento em que ocorre inibição de sua secreção. Entretanto, ao serem restabelecidas as condições normais de alimentação, a circuitaria hipotalâmica e seu controle sobre as vias neuro-hormonais se mantêm em descompasso com a utilização adaptada de nutrientes e seu provimento normal (Moura et al, 2002).…”

“…Por exemplo, o organismo reduz o número de células. Tal redução, importante como resposta adaptativa no período fetal, induz deficiências fundamentais na idade adulta (Moura et al, 2002).…”

Association between Nutrition and Gender during Lactation Influencing Glucose Homeostasis and Blood Pressure of the Adult Offspring

“…Also, we have recently shown that early postnatal malnourishment, in particular during the lactation period, caused a definitive impairment of glucose homeostasis in adult rats, and that malnutrition during lactation induced a reduction of 32 P phosphate flush of pancreatic beta cells in 90-day-old offspring [10]. Basically, we demonstrated that in these animals, at different ages (90 days until 1 year old), the first phase of insulin secretion was blunted as an adaptive sustained increase in peripheral insulin sensitivity [11][12][13][14]. However, despite the fact that it has been shown that glucose homeostasis is gender determined and that malnutrition during early life also induces alteration in insulin secretion and action, in the literature, there have been no studies concerning the effect of gender on the influence of malnutrition during the lactation period.…”