Pre- and postnatal development of adipose tissue at four sites in the guinea pig: effect of maternal diet restriction during the second half of pregnancy.

The effect of maternal diet restriction on the subsequent development of four adipose tissue depots has been studied in the guinea pig. Fetuses taken from, and pups born to, pregnant sows fed ad libitum (AL) displayed an increase in fat pad mass and in fat cell mass with increasing body mass at the four selected depots (interscapular (IS), retroperitoneal (RP), groin side subcutaneous (GS) and behind arm subcutaneous (BA)). The effect of maternal diet restriction (50% AL rations during the second half of pregnancy) was to significantly reduce the body masses at birth of the pups. The masses of the BA and GS fat pads and the mass of fat cells in the depots were reduced accordingly. However, the fat depot masses and fat cell masses of the IS and RP fat pads were larger than those of pups of comparable body mass born to AL fed sows. Diet restriction during the second half of pregnancy exerted preferential 'sparing' effects on the 'thermogenic' adipose tissue depots (IS and RP) suggesting the possibility that 'thermogenic' adipose tissue is more likely to be 'programmed' earlier in pregnancy than 'storage adipose tissue' (BA and GS).