Influence of Changes in Dietary Fatty Acids during Pregnancy on Placental and Fetal Fatty Acid Profile in the Rat

Abstract

To determine whether the composition of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) could be modified in the fetus by maternal dietary fatty acids, pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were fed semipurified diets that differed only in the non-vitamin lipid component. The diets contained either 10 g palm, sunflower, olive or fish oil (FOD)/100 g diet. A total of 5–6 rats were studied in each group. At day 20 of gestation, corresponding to 1.5 days prior parturition, the fatty acids in maternal adipose tissue were closely related to the fatty acid composition in the corresponding diet. An important proportion of arachidonic acid (AA) appeared in maternal liver and plasma, although it was lower in the FOD than in the other groups. Except for saturated fatty acids, the proportion of individual fatty acids in the placenta correlated linearly with that in maternal plasma. Also, PUFA in fetal plasma and liver showed significant correlations with PUFA in maternal plasma. Again, AA showed the lowest proportion in the plasma and liver of the FOD group. Therefore, the maternal dietary fatty acid composition influences maternal and fetal plasma and tissue composition, and an increase in dietary ω–3 fatty acids decreases the amount of AA in maternal and fetal tissues.

Growth and development of offspring following supplementation of sow diets with oil during early to mid gestation

“…Laws, Laws, Lean, Dodds and Clarke transported across the placenta more readily than those found in the other oils studied, although this theory is unlikely as it contradicts data from studies in rats and humans (Haggarty et al, 1997;Amusquivar and Herrera, 2003;Larque et al, 2003;Ortega and Herrera, unpublished data). Recent research has suggested that the type of dietary fat rather than the total fat content of the diet is important in determining neonatal outcome (Jean and Chiang, 1999;Rooke et al, 2001a, b and c).…”

Docosahexaenoic acid supply in pregnancy affects placental expression of fatty acid transport proteins

“…It is important to note that the percentage of AA in FFAs was inversely correlated with the expression of all membrane proteins and also with the cytosolic proteins A-FABP and B-FABP. Several studies (27,28) in animals suggest that EPA and AA are competitors for the desaturation and elongation pathway, and this competition might explain the negative correlations with FABP and AA in the placenta, because the percentage of AA was not different in any of the placental lipid fractions among the supplemented groups (results not shown).…”

Fatty Acid Composition of the Maternal Diet During the First or the Second Half of Gestation Influences the Fatty Acid Composition of Sows' Milk and Plasma, and Plasma of Their Piglets

“…Student's t test was used to compare values between olive oil and fish oil groups within the same day and are shown by asterisks: *p \ 0.05, **p \ 0.01, ***p \ 0.001. Tukey's test was used to determine differences between different time points after one-way ANOVA and shown by small letters in the olive oil group and by capital letters in the fish oil group (different letters indicating statistically significant differences, p \ 0.05) Lipids (2010) 45:409-418 415 diet it has been demonstrated that this fatty acid is retained in adipose tissue during late pregnancy at a higher proportion that any other LCPUFA [45]. It is, therefore, proposed that DHA after being taken up and stored in adipose tissue during the first half of pregnancy is mobilized during late pregnancy and the first days of lactation, when lipolytic activity is highly enhanced [17,46,47], becoming available to the mammary gland for milk synthesis.…”

“…The influence of dietary fatty acids during lactation on milk fatty acid composition has been well recognized in humans [19,55,56] and has been associated to the fatty acid composition in maternal adipose tissue [29,30]. Dietary fatty acids during pregnancy in rats have been shown to determine their proportion in maternal adipose tissue [45,57,58], and feeding tuna oil in sows during late pregnancy is known to affect fatty acid composition in newborn piglet tissues and plasma [8,59].…”