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A Requirement for Dietary Asparagine in Pregnant Rats^1,2,3,

Departments of Biochemistry and Nutritional Sciences, Boston University Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts 02118

Asparagine has been reported to be a dietary requirement for optimal growth of the weanling rat; in the present study the possibility of a requirement for dietary asparagine during pregnancy was explored. Two distinct amino acid diets containing asparagine were selected, and each was compared with an identical diet lacking asparagine. Pregnant rats were fed one of the asparagine-free diets from the 2nd, 8th, or 15th day of pregnancy until parturition, and their offspring compared to those of control dams fed the appropriate asparagine-containing diet throughout pregnancy. Asparagine deprivation beginning on the 15th day of pregnancy was associated with significantly lighter litters at parturition due to significantly decreased average body weight of the pups in conjunction with a strong trend toward decreased litter size. In addition, gravida fed one of the asparagine-free diets produced pups whose brain stems contained lower levels of protein and cholesterol, but comparable amounts of DNA, indicating decreased average cell size and less total membrane in the cells of this brain region. These data support the hypothesis that the greatest metabolic aberration immediately follows the onset of asparagine deprivation and, when this onset of deprivation occurs during the period of greatest fetal demand (the third trimester of gestation) the most severe consequences of insufficient asparagine result. Thus a requirement for asparagine during pregnancy is indicated, and its omission from the diet during periods of rapid fetal brain growth may impair neurological development in the fetus.

KEY WORDS: • asparagine • amino acids • diet • pregnancy • brain development

¹ This work was supported in part by PHS Grant HL 12998, HL 13262 and by general research funds of the Department of Nutritional Sciences.

² Preliminary reports of this work were presented at the meetings of the FASEB in Atlantic City, New Jersey (1975) Federation Proc. 34, 934 (Abstr.); and in Anaheim, California (1976) Federation Proc. 35, 421 (Abstr.).

³ Data herein form part of a Ph.D. dissertation prepared for the Department of Biochemistry, Boston University Graduate School, Boston, Massachusetts. Newburg, D. S. (1976) Dietary Asparagine and Brain Development.

⁴ Present address: Department of Nutrition & Food Science, 212 Funkhouser Building, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40506.

Manuscript received 28 February 1978.