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Influence of cafeteria diet and fish oil in pregnancy and lactation on pups’ body weight and fatty acid profiles in rats

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim was to determine the effects of cafeteria diet (CD) and fish oil supplements given to pregnant and lactating rats on the birth weight and fatty acid profiles of their offspring.

Methods

Female rats were given standard diet (STD) or CD for 22 days before pregnancy. After mating, some animals remained on STD or CD; for some CD rats, the diet was supplemented with 8.78 % fish oil (CD-FO). After 12 days, half the CD-FO group returned to CD (CD-FO12) and the others remained on CD-FO.

Results

At birth, body weights of pups of the three CD groups were lower than STD, maintained until 21 days in the CD-FO group only. At the end of lactation, dams of the CD groups had increased plasma triacylglycerols (TAG), non-esterified fatty acids, and glycerol concentrations, whereas most n-6 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) were decreased, the effect being greatest in the CD-FO group, where most n-3 LCPUFA were increased and indices of Δ5 and Δ6 desaturase activities decreased. The 21-day-old pups of the CD group had increased plasma TAG, not present in the CD-FO group, which had increased 3-hydroxybutyrate concentrations. In both 2- and 21-day-old CD pups, plasma concentrations of ARA were lower than STD, and even lower in the two CD-FO groups.

Conclusions

The effect of CD and CD-FO decreasing pups body weight could be related to decreased concentrations of ARA, caused by the inhibition of the Δ5 and Δ6 desaturases in the pathway of n-6 LCPUFA biosynthesis.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Milagros Morante for excellent technical help, Dr. Purificación González González for her valuable help in the analysis of the composition of the diets, and pp-science-editing.com for editing and linguistic revision of the manuscript. The study has been carried out with the financial support of Fundación Ramón Areces (CIVP16A1835) and University CEU San Pablo (PPC03-2014), Madrid, Spain. This manuscript does not contain clinical studies or patient data.

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  1. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Universidad San Pablo CEU, Madrid, Spain

    Clara Sánchez-Blanco, Encarnación Amusquivar, Kenia Bispo & Emilio Herrera

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  1. Clara Sánchez-Blanco
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  2. Encarnación Amusquivar
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  3. Kenia Bispo
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Correspondence to Emilio Herrera.

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Sánchez-Blanco, C., Amusquivar, E., Bispo, K. et al. Influence of cafeteria diet and fish oil in pregnancy and lactation on pups’ body weight and fatty acid profiles in rats. Eur J Nutr 55, 1741–1753 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-015-0992-0

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