Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T13:49:44.988Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Moderate maternal vitamin A deficiency affects perinatal organ growth and development in rats

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

Christos Antipatis ,
George Grant  and
Cheryl J. Ashworth
George Grant
Affiliation:
The Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB21 9SB, Scotland, UK
Cheryl J. Ashworth
Affiliation:
The Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB21 9SB, Scotland, UK
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Vitamin A deficiency during pregnancy is associated with detrimental effects in the offspring. We have developed a rat model to examine specific effects of maternal vitamin A status on perinatal growth and development. A total of 54 female rats were fed a vitamin A-free (VAF), -marginal (VAM) or -sufficient (VAS) diet from weaning until mating (at 7 weeks) and throughout pregnancy. Half of the rats in each group were injected with a single large dose of vitamin A on day 10 of pregnancy. Fetal and neonatal samples were taken on day 20 of pregnancy and the day of birth respectively. Maternal plasma retinol concentrations on day 20 and at birth were 50 % and 30 % lower in the VAF and VAM when compared to the VAS group. Fetal weight and survival did not differ between groups although placental: fetal ratio was higher in the VAF group than in the VAS group (0·195 (SE 0·005) V. 0·175 (se 0·004), P < 0·05). Rats fed the VAF diet gave birth at 23·5 d, an average of 1 d later than the other groups, and had lower number of live neonates at birth. Fetal liver, heart and lung weights relative to total body weight were lower in the VAF group and had altered growth trajectories. In neonates, only the relative lung weight was reduced. In addition, an increased protein: DNA ratio indicated hypertrophy in fetal kidneys. Vitamin A injection had no additional effect on length of gestation and fetal or neonatal number. However, injection increased relative fetal organ weights in the VAF group but did not alter the effects of vitamin A deficiency in the neonate. These data suggest that chronic vitamin A deficiency during pregnancy compromises liver, heart and kidney and impairs lung growth and development during the last few days of gestation and reduces number of live neonates at birth.

Keywords

Vitamin AFetusNeonatePregnancyRats
Type
Research Article
Information
British Journal of Nutrition , Volume 84 , Issue 1 , July 2000 , pp. 125 - 132
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 2000

References

Antipatis, C, Ashworth, CJ and Grant, G (1996) Effects of maternal vitamin A status on prenatal development in rats. Journal of Reproduction and Fertility 18, 82.Google Scholar
Biesalski, HK, Hemmes, C, Hanafy, ME, Weiser, H, Zschaebitz, H and Stoff, E (1996) Long term administration of high dose vitamin A to rats does not cause fetal malformations: macroscopic, skeletal and physicochemical findings. Journal of Nutrition 126, 973–983.Google Scholar
Boren, HG, Pauley, J, Wright, EC, Kaufman, DG, Smith, JM and Harris, CC (1974) Cell populations in the hamster tracheal epithelium in relation to vitamin A status. International Journal of Vitamin Nutrition and Research 44, 382–390.Google Scholar
Chytil, F (1992) The lungs and vitamin A. American Journal of Physiology 262, L517–L527.Google ScholarPubMed
Collins, MD, Tzimas, G, Hummler, H, Bugrin, H and Nau, H (1994) Comparative teratology and transplacental pharmacokinetics of all-trans retinoic acid, 13-cis retinoic acid and retinyl palmitate following daily administrations in rats. Toxicology Applied Pharmacology 127, 132–144.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dann, WJ (1932) The transmission of vitamin A from parents to young in mammals. Biochemical Journal 26, 1072–1080.Google Scholar
DeLuca, LM (1991) Retinoids and their receptors in differentiation, embryogenesis and neoplasia. FASEB Journal 5, 2924–2933.Google Scholar
Fraslon, C and Bourbon, JR (1994) Retinoids control surfactant phospholipid biosynthesis in fetal rat lung. American Journal of Physiology 266, L705–L712.Google Scholar
Gardner, EM and Ross, CA (1993) Dietary vitamin A restriction produces marginal vitamin A status in young rats. Journal of Nutrition 123, 1435–1443.Google ScholarPubMed
Grant, G, Dorward, PM and Pusztai, A (1993) Pancreatic enlargement is evident in rats fed diets containing raw soybeans or cowpeas for 800 days but not in those fed diets based on kidney beans or lupinseed. Journal of Nutrition 123, 2207–2215.Google Scholar
Hess, D, Keller, HE, Oberlin, B, Bonfanti, R and Schuep, W (1991) Simultaneous determination of retinol, tocopherols, carotenes and lycopene in plasma by means of high performance liquid chromatography on reverse phase. International Journal of Vitamin Nutrition and Research 61, 232–238.Google Scholar
Ismaldi, SD and Olson, JA (1981) Dynamics of the fetal distribution and transfer of vitamin A between rat fetuses and their mother. International Journal of Vitamin Nutrition and Research 52, 11–18.Google Scholar
Katz, J, Khatry, SK, West, KP, Humphrey, JH, Leclerq, SC, Pradhan, EK, Pohkrel, RP and Sommer, A (1995) Night blindness is prevalent during pregnancy and lactation in rural Nepal. Journal of Nutrition 125, 2122–2127.Google Scholar
Lelievre-Pegorier, M, Vilar, J, Ferrier, ML, Moreau, E, Freund, N, Gilbert, T and Merlet-Benichou, C (1998) Mild vitamin A deficiency leads to inborn nephron deficit in the rat. Kidney International 54, 1455–1462.Google Scholar
Lovtrup, S and Ross, K (1961) Observation and chemical determinations of deoxyribose nucleic acid in animal tissues. Biochemica et Biophysica Acta 53, 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mason, KE (1935) Fetal death, prolonged gestation and difficult parturition in the rat because of vitamin A deficiency. American Journal of Anatomy 57, 303–349.Google Scholar
National Research Council (1995) Nutrient Requirements of Laboratory Animals, 4th revised ed. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Schacterle, GR and Pollack, RL (1973) A simplified method for the quantitative assay of small amounts of protein in biologic material. Analytical Biochemistry 51, 654–655.Google Scholar
Smith, SM, Dickman, ED, Thompson, RP, Sinning, AR, Wunsch, AM and Markwald, RR (1997) Retinoic acid directs cardiac laterality and the expression of early markers of precardiac asymmetry. Developmental Biology 182, 162–171.Google Scholar
Sneider, WC (1967) Determination of nucleic acids in tissues by pentose analyses. Methods of Enzymology 3, 680–684.Google Scholar
Takahashi, YI, Smith, ES, Winick, M and Goodman, DS (1975) Vitamin A deficiency and fetal growth and development in the rat. Journal of Nutrition 105, 1299–1310.Google Scholar
Takahashi, YI, Smith, JE and Goodman, DS (1977) Vitamin A and retinol binding protein metabolism during fetal development in the rat. American Journal of Physiology 233, E263–E272.Google ScholarPubMed
Thompson, JN, Howell, J McC and Pitt, GAJ (1964) Vitamin A and reproduction in the rat. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences 159, 510–535.Google Scholar
Underwood, BA (1994) Maternal vitamin A status and its importance in infancy and childhood. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 59, 517S–524S.Google Scholar
Wallingford, JC & Underwood, BA (1986) Vitamin A deficiency in pregnancy, lactation and the nursing child. In Vitamin A Deficiency and its Control, pp. 101–151 [Bauernfield, CJ, editor]. New York: NY: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Wallingford, JC and Underwood, BA (1987) Vitamin A status needed to maintain vitamin A concentrations in nonhepatic tissues of the pregnant rat. Journal of Nutrition 117, 1410–1415.Google Scholar
Wellik, DM and Deluca, HF (1995) Retinol in addition to retinoic acid is required for successful gestation of vitamin A deficient rats. Biology of Reproduction 53, 1392–1397.Google Scholar
West, KP, Howard, GR and Sommer, A (1989) Vitamin A and infection: public health implications. Annual Reviews of Nutrition 9, 63–86.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, JG, Roth, CB and Warkany, J (1953) An analysis of the syndrome of malformations induced by maternal vitamin A deficiency. Effects of restoration of vitamin A at various times during gestation. American Journal of Anatomy 92, 189–217.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed