Low protein diet during pregnancy will have effect on the lungs of the offspring.

What is it about?

During pregnancy, the fetus's growth is dependent on the food and oxygen supply from the mother. Impairments in this process leads to low birth weight babies and may have detrimental effects on the offspring both immediately after birth as well as later in life. In the current study we investigated this phenomenon with respect to lung function in a rat model of low birth weight induced by providing the pregnant rats a low protein diet. Our study found that changes in lung function occurred in the offspring of the low birth weight animals and, importantly, that this effect was mainly observed in female pups. Overall, our observations suggest that impaired fetal growth affects males and females differently with respect to lung function after birth; the long term implications with respect to pulmonary diseases requires further study.

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Why is it important?

Approximately 8% of human babies are born below their naturally expected birth weight and these babies have an increased chance of developing a variety of chronic diseases later on in life. Understanding how the impaired fetal growth impacts the offspring is essential to better understand this increased susceptibility to disease. This knowledge will help to develop targeted preventative and/or personalized treatments strategies for this subgroup of our population.

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