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Effect of Litter Size on Weight Gain in Rats¹

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

Male rats, placed in litters of 2, 4, 8, 12 and 16 on the first postnatal day, were weighed at 3-day intervals and killed at days 21 or 58. The carcasses were assayed for total protein, DNA and lipid. Animals raised in litters of 16 were significantly smaller than any of the others at all times examined, and their carcasses contained significantly less protein, DNA and lipid. In contrast, animals raised in very small litters exhibited no persistent significant differences in body weight or composition from animals raised in standard-sized litters of 8 or 12.

KEY WORDS: • nutrition • neonate • body composition • body weight

¹ Supported by USPHS Postdoctoral Fellowship No. 5 F22AM01269-02.

Manuscript received 10 October 1975.