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Mature Body Weight and Life Span of Male and Female Progeny of Primiparous Rats Fed a Low Protein or Adequate Diet Throughout Pregnancy

Department of Animal Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853

Sixty-one primiparous Sprague-Dawley female rats were fed an adequate diet containing 5% protein (experiment 1) or 8% protein (experiment 2) throughout gestation. Low dietary protein reduced individual pup birth weight in both experiments (P < .01 in experiment 1 and P < .10 in experiment 2) and drastically decreased early postnatal survival in experiment 1. Weaning weight of survivors was reduced by gestation protein deprivation in experiment 1 but not in experiment 2. Male and female progeny surviving to weaning in experiment 1 and randomly selected progeny from each maternal treatment in experiment 2 were caged individually and fed ad libitum a nutritionally adequate corn-soybean meal-type diet throughout the entire life span. Body weights were recorded monthly beginning in young adulthood and continuing until death. Life span (in days) was recorded for each rat. Mature body weight of male and female progeny of dams fed restricted protein during gestation was less in both experiments than that of offspring from dams fed an adequate diet (P < .01). There was no effect of prenatal nutrition on life span in either experiment, but females lived significantly longer than males in both experiments (P < .05). It is concluded that maternal protein restriction during gestation of a magnitude large enough to reduce pup birth weight causes a significant reduction in mature body size of the progeny without affecting longevity in the rat.

KEY WORDS: • protein

¹ Current address is R. L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center, USDA, Science and Education Administration-Agricultural Research, Clay Center, NE 68933.

Manuscript received 13 March 1981.