Effect of high-fat diet feeding during pregnancy and lactation on basal plasma corticosterone concentration in 6-week old male rat offspring

Consuming a high-fat diet, as a stressor, during pregnancy and lactation can change the programming of the neuroendocrine system, and cause long -lasting adverse metabolic and behavioral effects in later life. In this study, the effect of high-fat diet feeding during pregnancy-lactation on basal plasma corticosterone level in adult male rat offspring was investigated. This study was performed in 1398, at Physiology Department, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences.

In this experimental study, dams received high-fat and normal diets from the beginning of pregnancy to the end of lactation. At the end of weaning, male offspring were divided into high-fat diet (HFD) and normal diet (ND) (6 rats per group according to previous studies) based on the dams’ diet and received normal diet until six weeks of age. Then the body weight of the animals was measured using a digital balance and blood samples were taken from their tails to determine the plasma concentration of corticosterone by a rat corticosterone Elisa Kit. Subsequently, their adrenal glands removed and weighed using a digital balance. The results were analyzed using independent t test.

Compared with the offspring of the ND group, the plasma concentration of corticosterone was higher in the offspring of the HFD group (2.11±0.13) (P<0.01), whereas the body weight of these offspring (114.8±2.37) (P<0.01) was lower. However, the adrenal gland weight of HFD group (28.25±2.80) was not significantly different from that of ND group (29.52±1.68). There were not any reduction in the samples of the study groups.

  Regarding the unchanged adrenal glands weight of the HFD group, it seems that the increase in plasma concentrations of corticosterone in this group is due to impaired corticosterone clearance.