![[Feedback]](/icons/banner/feedbackACT.gif){kind=icon}
![[For Subscribers]](/icons/banner/subscriberACT.gif){kind=icon}
![[Archive]](/icons/banner/archiveACT.gif){kind=icon}
![[Search]](/icons/banner/searchACT.gif){kind=icon}
![[Contents]](/icons/banner/tocACT.gif){kind=icon}
|
|
|
|
|
||
Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Public Health, School of Medicine, CB#7400, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7400
Choline is an important nutrient that is actively transported from mother to fetus across the placenta and from mother to infant across the mammary gland. Thus, pregnancy and lactation are times when dietary requirements for choline may be increased. Pregnant rats eating AIN-76A diet (with and without choline) for 6 d (d 12–18 gestation) were compared with nonmated female and male rats eating the same diets. Similarly, lactating rats were compared with nonmated female rats, both groups eating these same diets for 25 d (gestation d 12-postpartum d 15). We measured choline and choline metabolites in livers on the last day of feeding. Nonmated female rats, eating the control diet, had higher hepatic choline metabolites concentrations than did male rats (choline, 98%; betaine, 96%; and phosphorylcholine, 55% higher), pregnant rats (phosphorylcholine, 47%; and betaine, 42% higher) or lactating rats (phosphorylcholine, 49%; phosphatidylcholine, 37%; and betaine, 273% higher). We found that nonmated females eating a choline deficient diet had only a modest diminution (33%) of the labile choline metabolite PCho in liver, compared with similar rats eating a control diet. When compared with similar rats fed a choline-adequate diet, pregnant rats fed a choline-deficient diet had significantly greater diminution of hepatic phosphorylcholine (83% lower) than did nonmated females. Liver phosphorylcholine was only 12% lower than in controls in nonmated females fed the deficient diet for the same 25-d period. Lactating rats were the most sensitive to choline deficiency, with liver phosphorylcholine 88% lower than in similar rats fed control diet. Our data suggest that the nonpurified diet offered in the laboratory does not provide sufficient choline to meet the extraordinary demands of pregnancy and lactation. The intake of extra dietary choline may be advantageous during pregnancy and lactation in rats.
KEY WORDS: • choline requirement • pregnancy • lactation • rat
1 Supported by Grant AG09525 from the National Institutes of Health, and a grant from Central Soya Company.
2 The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 USC section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
3 To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Manuscript received 9 February 1995. Revision accepted 7 August 1995.
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  V. P. Kovacheva, J. M. Davison, T. J. Mellott, A. E. Rogers, S. Yang, M. J. O'Brien, and J. K. Blusztajn Raising gestational choline intake alters gene expression in DMBA-evoked mammary tumors and prolongs survival FASEB J, April 1, 2009; 23(4): 1054 - 1063. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 S. H Zeisel Importance of methyl donors during reproduction Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, February 1, 2009; 89(2): 673S - 677S. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J. M. Davison, T. J. Mellott, V. P. Kovacheva, and J. K. Blusztajn Gestational Choline Supply Regulates Methylation of Histone H3, Expression of Histone Methyltransferases G9a (Kmt1c) and Suv39h1 (Kmt1a), and DNA Methylation of Their Genes in Rat Fetal Liver and Brain J. Biol. Chem., January 23, 2009; 284(4): 1982 - 1989. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 Z. Li and D. E. Vance Thematic Review Series: Glycerolipids. Phosphatidylcholine and choline homeostasis J. Lipid Res., June 1, 2008; 49(6): 1187 - 1194. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
X. Xu, M. D. Gammon, S. H. Zeisel, Y. L. Lee, J. G. Wetmur, S. L. Teitelbaum, P. T. Bradshaw, A. I. Neugut, R. M. Santella, and J. Chen Choline metabolism and risk of breast cancer in a population-based study FASEB J, June 1, 2008; 22(6): 2045 - 2052. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
G. Wu, C. Aoyama, S. G. Young, and D. E. Vance Early Embryonic Lethality Caused by Disruption of the Gene for Choline Kinase {alpha}, the First Enzyme in Phosphatidylcholine Biosynthesis J. Biol. Chem., January 18, 2008; 283(3): 1456 - 1462. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
D. E. Vance, Z. Li, and R. L. Jacobs Hepatic Phosphatidylethanolamine N-Methyltransferase, Unexpected Roles in Animal Biochemistry and Physiology J. Biol. Chem., November 16, 2007; 282(46): 33237 - 33241. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
V. P. Kovacheva, T. J. Mellott, J. M. Davison, N. Wagner, I. Lopez-Coviella, A. C. Schnitzler, and J. K. Blusztajn Gestational Choline Deficiency Causes Global and Igf2 Gene DNA Hypermethylation by Up-regulation of Dnmt1 Expression J. Biol. Chem., October 26, 2007; 282(43): 31777 - 31788. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. Resseguie, J. Song, M. D. Niculescu, K.-A. da Costa, T. A. Randall, and S. H. Zeisel Phosphatidylethanolamine N-methyltransferase (PEMT) gene expression is induced by estrogen in human and mouse primary hepatocytes FASEB J, August 1, 2007; 21(10): 2622 - 2632. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
L. M Fischer, K. A. daCosta, L. Kwock, P. W Stewart, T.-S. Lu, S. P Stabler, R. H Allen, and S. H Zeisel Sex and menopausal status influence human dietary requirements for the nutrient choline Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, May 1, 2007; 85(5): 1275 - 1285. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
T. J. Mellott, M. T. Follettie, V. Diesl, A. A. Hill, I. Lopez-Coviella, and J. K. Blusztajn Prenatal choline availability modulates hippocampal and cerebral cortical gene expression FASEB J, May 1, 2007; 21(7): 1311 - 1323. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
K.-A. da Costa, O. G. Kozyreva, J. Song, J. A. Galanko, L. M. Fischer, and S. H. Zeisel Common genetic polymorphisms affect the human requirement for the nutrient choline FASEB J, July 1, 2006; 20(9): 1336 - 1344. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 W. D. Rees, F. A. Wilson, and C. A. Maloney Sulfur Amino Acid Metabolism in Pregnancy: The Impact of Methionine in the Maternal Diet J. Nutr., June 1, 2006; 136(6): 1701S - 1705S. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 V. Michel, Z. Yuan, S. Ramsubir, and M. Bakovic Choline Transport for Phospholipid Synthesis. Experimental Biology and Medicine, May 1, 2006; 231(5): 490 - 504. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 G. M. Shaw, S. L. Carmichael, W. Yang, S. Selvin, and D. M. Schaffer Periconceptional Dietary Intake of Choline and Betaine and Neural Tube Defects in Offspring Am. J. Epidemiol., July 15, 2004; 160(2): 102 - 109. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
