Effects of prenatal undernutrition on prevertebral sympathetic neurons in the rat: a morphological and fluorescence histochemical study.

The effects of maternal undernutrition during the last seven and last fourteen days of pregnancy on neurons of the rat coeliac-superior mesenteric ganglion has been investigated in neonates and in adult animals. The parameters studied were neuron diameter and the level of neuronal noradrenaline fluorescence. The morphology was more permanently affected by fourteen than by seven days undernutrition as shown by the smaller neuron diameters persisting at six months. Both periods of undernutrition affected noradrenaline levels permanently: seven days undernutrition producing a rise and fourteen days producing a depression. These changes demonstrate the permanent effects of maternal undernutrition on the development and maturation of prevertebral sympathetic neurons.