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Leucine Supplementation in Mice during Pregnancy Does not Affect Birthweight or Offspring Growth prior to Weaning
Author(s) -
McGuckin Molly Mae,
Bartak Sarah Ann,
Marini Juan,
Peterson Daniel G.,
Manjarin Rodrigo
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.2018.32.1_supplement.861.9
Subject(s) - weaning , leucine , litter , pregnancy , birth weight , gestation , offspring , weight gain , fetus , biology , zoology , medicine , endocrinology , physiology , body weight , amino acid , biochemistry , genetics , agronomy
Advances in nutritional care of low‐birth weight infants have significantly improved the outcome of premature infants; nonetheless, low‐birth weight still represents the main cause of newborn deaths in the U.S. Based on studies in cells and rodents demonstrating anabolic effects of branched‐chain amino acids, there is potential for use of supplementary leucine to improve muscle growth in children and adults. However, the effect of supplemental leucine during fetal development remains unknown. We tested the hypothesis that leucine supplementation during pregnancy would increase pup weight at birth and subsequent growth prior to weaning. Twenty‐five female CD‐1 strain mice were fed ad libitum 1 of 3 diets containing 5.5, 11 and 22 g/kg leucine throughout gestation. Alanine and sucrose were added to make the three diets is nitrogenous and isoenergetic. Diets were formulated to otherwise meet nutrient requirements during gestation. Feed intake was measured daily throughout pregnancy for 21 d. After parturition, litters were normalized to 8 pups, and average pup weight was collected every other day for 21 d until weaning. Statistical analysis was performed using linear mixed models which included treatment, time and their interaction as fixed effects, mouse nested within treatment as repeated measures, replicate as a random effect, and initial body weight, feed intake, and litter size as covariates. There was no significant effect of leucine on average birth weight (1.24 ± 0.05, 1.24 ± 0.06, 1.22 ± 0.05 for 5.5, 11 and 22 g/kg leucine, respectively; P = 0.36) or pup growth over 21 d of lactation (0.54 ± 0.06, 0.54 ± 0.05, 0.53 ± 0.04 g/d; P = 0.96). Number of pups born alive was positively correlated with total amount of feed consumed over 21 d gestation (R=0.64 and P =0.0003). Our results indicate that supplemental leucine during gestation does not improve birth weight or offspring growth in mice. However, these results do not preclude the effects of leucine on muscle fiber dynamics, fetal programming or the regulation of metabolic pathways related to muscle development, which may warrant further investigation. Support or Funding Information ARI#58982 and Cal Poly Summer Undergraduate Research Program This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal .