1. The effects of high fat diet on reproduction in female rats
- Author
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Kai lin Catherine Jen, Francine Wehmer, and Mary Bertino
- Subjects
Physiology ,Birth weight ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Biology ,Estrus ,Pregnancy ,medicine ,Animals ,Cannibalism ,Maternal Behavior ,reproductive and urinary physiology ,media_common ,Estrous cycle ,Body Weight ,High fat diet ,medicine.disease ,Obesity ,Dietary Fats ,Hypothalamic lesion ,Rats ,Pregnancy, Animal ,Female ,Reproduction ,Licking - Abstract
Female rats who had been made obese on a protein-supplemented high fat diet were mated. Impaired estrous cycling prevented conception in nearly half the experimental females. The young who were born to the remaining experimental mothers were lighter in birth weight. Most were cannibalized within the first week postpartum. Observation of mother-young interactions revealed a high level of pup licking. The disruptions in reproductive behaviors are similar to those reported in females whose obesity is a consequence of hypothalamic lesion.
- Published
- 1979