L. Oliveros et al., EFFECT OF SUCROSE FEEDING DURING PREGNANCY ON RAT MATERNAL AND FETAL LIVER LIPID AND GLYCOGEN-METABOLISM, Bioscience, biotechnology, and biochemistry, 59(3), 1995, pp. 412-416
This investigation concerns the effects of the ingestion during pregna
ncy of a sucrose diet compared with a dextrin diet on the lipid and gl
ycogen metabolism in the liver of pregnant rats and their fetuses at d
ays 15 and 19 of gestation. At the two time points, the pregnant rats
fed with the sucrose diet had higher serum glucose and triglyceride co
ncentrations. On day 15 of pregnancy, the hepatic triglyceride, total,
and esterified cholesterol concentrations were higher in the sucrose-
fed rats than in the dextrin-fed rat, but by day 19, the triglyceride
and esterified cholesterol concentrations only increased in the sucros
e-fed rats. In the liver of 15-day fetuses from darns fed with the suc
rose diet, the concentrations of triglyceride, total, free and esterif
ied cholesterol increased, whereas in the liver of 19-day fetuses the
concentration of all the lipid fractions decreased. The hepatic fatty
acid synthase activity and the (H2O)-H-3 incorporation into hepatic li
pids and glycogen increased in the sucrose-fed rats at days 15 and 19
of pregnancy and in the liver of 19-day fetuses. These results suggest
that sucrose feeding to pregnant rats causes an alteration of the hep
atic lipid metabolism in them and in their fetus, associated with the
changes in carbohydrate metabolism.