Effect of the dietary protein level and hydrocortisone acetate treatment to pregnant rats on the newborns

Abstract

The influence of dietary protein level (three diets provided with 4% (D1), 12% (D2) and 14% (D3) of protein were tested) and hydrocortisone acetate administration (4 mg/100 g body wt.were daily injected), to rats during pregnancy, were studied.The parameters considered were the number, weight and nitrogen content of the litter.The D3 diet caused a significant increase in the newborns number, whether the mothers were hormone-treated or not.Cortisol associated to the D1 diet led to an appreciable fall in this parameter.Total N content of the litter, which had revealed independent of the dietary protein level in the control groups (rats without hormonal treatment), decreased significantly after cortisol administration in both the three experimental groups.This latter effect was more intense in litters coming from rats fed on the D1 diet.When the N content is expressed as mg N/g litter weight, this parameter decreased significantly only when the cortisol treatment was associated to the D1 diet.