Effects of Saline Overload During Pregnancy and Lactation about Neuroendocrine Changes and Behavior of the offspring in adulthood.

• Grant number: 11/03368-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: June 01, 2011
• End date: January 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology - General Physiology
• Principal Investigator: José Antunes Rodrigues
• Grantee: Marcia Santos da Silva Umeoka
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (FMRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

In several species of mammals, pregnancy is a stage of the reproductive cycle that needs a lot of energy and nutrients. Several epidemiological and experimental studies have demonstrated that exposure of the pregnant rat to adverse environments seems permanently set the physiology and metabolism of the fetus, with consequences for its physiology in general. Adult offspring of mothers fed a diet high in salt during pregnancy have raised blood pressure with concomitant increases in renal levels of angiotensin (ANG II), suggesting that high-salt diet during intrauterine development can permanently alter the mechanisms that regulate cardiovascular function, endocrine and metabolism in general. Given this, this study will be investigated in adult life (at 40 and 60 days) of offspring coming from mothers who should receive overload saline (NaCl 0.9%) during the entire period of gestation and lactation: a) the appetitive behavior of water and 1.8% NaCl, b) the excretion of sodium and water, c) the plasma concentration of AVP, OT, ANP ANGII, Prl and corticosterone d) the activation of the neurons of the PVN vasopressinergic and ocitocinérgicos and SON as well as neurons catecholaminergic NTS, in baseline conditions and under various stimuli (range of osmolality and plasma volume, restraint stress), e) determine the temporal evolution of the messenger RNA expression of AVP and OT in PVN and SON by PCR-time real (RT-PCR) in rats subjected to the same experimental paradigms described above.