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Beneficial and cautionary outcomes of resveratrol supplementation in pregnant nonhuman primates
Author(s) -
Roberts Victoria H. J.,
Pound Lynley D.,
Thorn Stephanie R.,
Gillingham Melanie B.,
Thornburg Kent L.,
Friedman Jacob E.,
Frias Antonio E.,
Grove Kevin L.
Publication year - 2014
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/fj.13-245472
Subject(s) - resveratrol , pregnancy , medicine , fetus , physiology , uterine artery , endocrinology , gestation , biology , pharmacology , genetics
Resveratrol has been proposed as a potential therapeutic to improve metabolic health during pregnancy, yet little is known about the fetal effects of this maternal dietary supplement. We hypothesized that when administered to pregnant nonhuman primates (NHPs), resveratrol would increase uterine blood flow and mitigate the harmful consequences of maternal Western‐style diet (WSD) consumption. NHPs were fed a WSD (36% fat) supplemented with 0.37% resveratrol throughout pregnancy. Outcomes were compared with cohorts fed WSD alone and control chow (14% fat) to distinguish between WSD and resveratrol‐specific effects in these animals. In the early third trimester, uterine blood flow was measured by Doppler ultrasound before fetal delivery and tissue collection. Resveratrol resulted in 30% maternal weight loss and improved glucose tolerance, increased uterine artery volume blood flow, and decreased placental inflammation and liver triglyceride deposition. In addition, fetal pancreatic mass was enlarged by 42%, with a 12‐fold increase in proliferation by Ki67 immunohistochemistry. These results demonstrate that resveratrol use during pregnancy yields improvements in maternal and placental phenotype with beneficial effects in the fetal liver but an unexplained and concerning alteration in fetal pancreatic development, which strongly cautions against the use of resveratrol by pregnant women.—Roberts, V. H. J., Pound, L. D., Thorn, S. R., Gillingham, M. B., Thornburg, K. L., Friedman, J. E., Frias, A. E., Grove, K. L. Beneficial and cautionary outcomes of resveratrol supplementation in pregnant nonhuman primates. FASEB J . 28, 2466–2477 (2014). www.fasebj.org