Intergenerational evaluation of the ventral prostate of adult rats programmed by exposure to sodium saccharin.

• Grant number: 23/15886-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2024
• End date: September 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Maternal and Child Health
• Principal Investigator: Patricia Fernanda Felipe Pinheiro
• Grantee: Sarah Cordeiro Yamashita
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IBB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Sodium saccharin is a non-caloric sweetener, widely used as an additive in various processed foods and beverages. Its safety for long-term consumption, especially during pregnancy and lactation, is still controversial. Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) published new guidelines advising people without diabetes to consume it. Unfavorable conditions during uterine development can affect the health and susceptibility to diseases of offspring in adulthood. The development of the prostate, unlike other organs of the male reproductive tract, is dependent on dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and problems in the synthesis of androgens or the action of this hormone are reflected in the future functioning of the prostate. Thus, the objective of this study is to verify the possible inheritance in the intergenerational development programming of adult male rats (F1 and F2) caused by maternal use (F0) of sodium saccharin during the gestational and lactational period through the morphofunctional study of the ventral lobe of the prostate. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats will be used, divided into two experimental groups: Control Group (C): composed of rats that will consume food and water ad libitum (n=10); Sodium Saccharin Group (S): composed of rats that will consume food and water ad libitum sweetened with 0.3% sodium saccharin (n=10). At 120 days of age, the male offspring will be killed and the organs will be dissected and weighed. The ventral lobe of the animals' prostate will be processed according to histological, immunohistochemical, molecular and oxidative stress study protocols.