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Effects of Maternal Dietary Lipotropes on Prenatal and Neonatal Rats^1,2,

Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of severe and marginal deficiencies of lipotropes on the developing rat embryo. Groups of female rats were fed diets varying in methionine and choline content with and without vitamin B₁₂. The diet low in choline and methionine supplemented with vitamin B₁₂ constituted a marginally deficient diet which supported conception, implantation, and fetal growth in a normal fashion and prevented neonatal hydrocephaly. Without vitamin B₁₂ supplements, even when the diet contained normal amounts of choline and methionine, congenital anomalies and alterations in nucleic acids and protein of brain and liver were observed at various periods of development. Although the marginally deficient newborn offspring appeared clinically normal, biochemical determinations indicated smaller brain cells and irregularities in protein synthesis. It appears from these results that prenatal maternal nutrition can have an adverse effect on the newborn which may carry over into postnatal life.

² Supported in part by National Institutes of Health Grant AM-7136 and by the SKF Laboratories.

³ Former fellow of the Kellogg Foundation, Battle Creek, Michigan.

Manuscript received 14 May 1970.