Brief Reports
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2005. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jul 28, 2005; 11(28): 4419-4422
Published online Jul 28, 2005. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v11.i28.4419
Effect of early nutrition on intestine development of intrauterine growth retardation in rats and its correlation to leptin
Xiao-Shan Qiu, Ting-Ting Huang, Zhen-Yu Shen, Hui-Ying Deng, Zhi-Yong Ke
Xiao-Shan Qiu, Ting-Ting Huang, Zhen-Yu Shen, Zhi-Yong Ke, Pediatric Department, the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510080, Guangdong Province, China
Hui-Ying Deng, Guangzhou Children's Hospital, Guangzhou 510120, Guangdong Province, China
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Supported by the Science and Technology Bureau Foundation of Guangdong Province, No. 99M04815G
Correspondence to: Dr. Ting-Ting Huang, Department of Pediatrics, the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510080, Guangdong Province, China. huangtt cn@yahoo.com
Telephone: +86-20-88551570
Received: September 22, 2004
Revised: November 15, 2004
Accepted: November 19, 2004
Published online: July 28, 2005
Abstract

AIM: To investigate the intestine and body development of intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) rats under early different protein diet and to analyze the correlation between leptin and intestine and body development.

METHODS: An IUGR rat model was established by food restriction of pregnant female rats. Fifty-six neonatal IUGR rats and 24 neonatal normal rats were randomly divided into normal control group (C group), IUGR model group (SC group), low protein diet IUGR group (SL group), and high protein diet IUGR group (SH group). Eight rats were killed per group at wk 0, 4, and 12. Serum leptin, body weight (BW), body length (BL), intestinal weight (IW), intestinal length (IL), and intestinal disaccharidase (including lactase, maltase, and saccharase) were detected.

RESULTS: BW (4.50 ± 0.41 g), BL (5.96 ± 0.40 cm), IW (0.05 ± 0.01 g), and IL (15.9 ± 2.8 cm) in neonatal IUGR rats were much lower than those in C group (6.01 ± 0.55 g, 6.26 ± 0.44 cm, 0.10 ± 0.02 g, 21.8 ± 2.7 cm, P<0.05), while intestinal lactase and maltase activities were higher than those in C group. SH group showed the fastest catch up growth and their BW, BL, IW, and IL reached the C group level at wk 4. SC group showed relatively slower catch up growth than SH group, and their BW, BL, IW did not reach the C group level at wk 4. SL group did not show intestine and body catch up growth. Intestinal maltase [344 ± 33μmol/(min/g)] and saccharase activities [138 ± 32 μmol/(min/g)] in SL group were both markedly lower than those in C group [751 ± 102, 258 ± 27 mmol/(min/g), P<0.05]. There were no significant differences in lactase activities at wk 4 and disaccharidase activities at wk 12 among all groups (P>0.05). The leptin level in SL group (0.58 ± 0.12 ng/mL) was the highest in all groups, and much lower in SH group (0.21 ± 0.03 ng/mL) than that in any other IUGR groups at wk 4 (P<0.05). Leptin was negatively related to BW (r = -0.556, P = 0.001), IW (r = -0.692, P = 0.001) and IL (r = -0.738, P = 0.000) at wk 4, while no correlation was found at wk 12.

CONCLUSION: High protein diet is a reasonable early nutritional mode to IUGR rats in promoting intestine and body catch up growth.

Keywords: Intrauterine growth retardation, Rat, Intestine development, Disaccharidase, Leptin, Nutritional intervention