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Oxygen Consumption by Brain Mitochondria of Rats Malnourished in Utero¹

Genetic and Endocrine Unit, Department of Pediatrics, State University of New York, Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse, New York 13210

Oxygen consumption by brain mitochondria was measured in four different groups of rats to study the effects on the physiology of the central nervous system of intrauterine malnutrition, followed by a normal suckling period. Group A₁ consisted of normal newborn rats, whose mothers had received a normocaloric, 27% protein diet during pregnancy. Group A₂ contained malnourished newborn rats, whose mothers had received a 4% protein diet from day 4 of pregnancy to the day of delivery. Group B₁ had been normal newborn rats that underwent a normal 16-day suckling period. Group B₂ consisted of rats malnourished at birth that underwent a normal 16-day suckling period. There was a significant decrease in the brain weights of malnourished rats as contrasted with normal newborn rats. The difference persisted, even after a 16-day normal suckling period. There was a significant decrease between these same groups when the results were expressed in terms of microliters of oxygen consumed per total brain weight or total brain mitochondrial protein. This experiment demonstrates that succinate oxidation by isolated brain mitochondria per unit of brain is the same in intrauterine malnutrition as in normal rats.

KEY WORDS: • malnutrition • brain • oxygen consumption • intrauterine • mitochondrial • succinate oxidation

¹ Supported in part by research grant AM-02504 from the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases, U. S. Public Health Service.

² Research Associate, Department of Pediatrics, Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse, N. Y. Present address: The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Growth & Development, 525 East 68th Street, New York, N. Y. 10021.

³ Requests for reprints should be addressed to: Lytt I. Gardner, M. D., Department of Pediatrics, State University of New York Upstate Medical Center, 750 E. Adams St., Syracuse, N. Y. 13210.

Manuscript received 28 August 1972.