The effects of pregnancy on the organ weights of the albino rat

Abramson, Milton

doi:10.1016/s0002-9378(34)90730-4

Cited by 6 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…. Herring 1920;Abramson 1934;Poo et al 1939) and more extensively from the 1950s to the 1980s (e.g., Souders and Morgan 1957;Fell et al 1963;Campbell and Fell 1964;Craft 1970;Crean and Rumsey 1971;Sigdestad and Osborne 1972;Cripps and Williams 1975;Mainoya 1978;Canas et al 1982). In addition, during the past two decades, the study of lactation in laboratory mice has been the main experimental model for testing the energy budget limitation hypothesis Diamond 1992, 1994;Hammond et al , 1996Speakman and McQueenie 1996;Johnson and Speakman 2001).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digestive and Metabolic Flexibility Allows Female Degus to Cope with Lactation Costs

Naya

Ebensperger²,

Sabat³

et al. 2008

Physiological and Biochemical Zoology

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Lactation is the most energetically demanding period in the life cycle of female mammals, and its effects on digestive flexibility and the size of internal organs have been extensively studied in laboratory mice and rats since the early 1900s. However, there have been only two studies on this topic for wild rodent species. Here, we analyzed digestive flexibility--that is, changes in gut content, activity of digestive enzymes, and gut morphology--during lactation in the caviomorph rodent Octodon degus. In addition, we evaluated changes in the size of other internal organs and analyzed their relationship with the resting metabolic rate. We found that gut content, the dry masses of digestive chambers, the dry mass of liver, and resting metabolic rate were greater in lactating than in nonbreeding control females. In contrast, fat stores were higher in control subjects. Maltase and aminopeptidase-N specific activity did not change with lactation, and both enzymes had greater activity values in the middle portion of the small intestine. Thus, our data indicate that the previously reported increase in food assimilation that occurs during lactation in O. degus is related to a mass increase in several central organs, leading, in turn, to higher energetic costs. Fat stores may help to mitigate these costs, but, as expected for small animals, to a limited extent. Our study reveals a complex interplay among energy acquisition, storage, and expenditure processes that ultimately determine an organism's fitness.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digestive and Metabolic Flexibility Allows Female Degus to Cope with Lactation Costs

Naya

Ebensperger²,

Sabat³

et al. 2008

Physiological and Biochemical Zoology

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“…There have been several previously reported studies on the weight and water levels of the body and body organs during pregnancy in the rat-for example those of Herring (1920), Abramson (1934) and Souders & Morgan (1957). There is general agreement that increase in body weight of the pregnant rat is due to weight of the pregnant uterus plus an increase in weight of the re¬ mainder of the body due, at least in part, to hydration.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of Concepta in the Production of Hypertrophy and Hydration of Maternal Body Organs in the Third Week of Pregnancy in Albino Rats

Peters¹,

Krijnen²,

Boyd³

1967

Reproduction

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Summary. It was found that increase in foetal weight in albino rats in the 3rd week of pregnancy was accompanied by an increase in the dry weight of placenta and uterine wall and a decrease in the water levels of foetus and placenta. It was not correlated with the increased water levels of the uterine wall. Of the increase in maternal body weight not due to weight of uterus, some 7% was due to increased weight of gastro-intestinal contents and the remainder to increase in dry weight or water levels, or both, of a series of body organs such as skeletal muscle, skin, liver, spleen, ovaries and adrenal glands. Increase in weight of body organs was not positively correlated with the very considerable increase in weight of concepta. Hypertrophy and hydration of maternal body organs did not appear to be due, therefore, to metabolic demands associated with the marked increase in conceptal weight during the third week. Increase in weight of the foetus was associated with a decline in the weight of certain organs such as pyloric stomach. The weight of the ovaries declined as placental weight increased.

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