Effect of valoric restriction on female pregmant rats liver on 21st day gestational

Abstract

The liver plays an essential role in maternal metabolic adaptation during pregnancy. The metabolic plasticity is well described in the literature, but changes in liver morphology in pregnancy remain unclear. Our purpose was to investigate the effect of calorie restriction (CR) in the structural organization and liver metabolism of pregnant rats on gestational day 21st (21st Gd). Pregnant
Wistar rats were divided into control group (C, n = 6, basal diet) and Restricted Group (R, n = 6). This was fed with 50% of the diet consumed by C. In 21st dG after anesthesia and blood collection by cardiac puncture for biochemical analysis, the livers were collected, weighed and fragmented for histology (hematoxylin-eosin) or frozen in biofreezer. The rats R showed a lower liver mass compared to body weight, as well as a significant decrease in liver glycogen into glucose, cholesterol and triglyceride in the serum when compared to C. Morphological analysis showed no significant difference between the groups regarding the structure or hepatocyte organization. Hepatic lobules showed no signs of inflammation, steatosis, and fibrosis in both groups. The structure and distribution of sinusoids vessels were also similar. The data demonstrate that RC gestational changed the size of the liver, causing decrease of mass and energy reserve; however, the liver was preserved in structural organization.