Figure 1.

Experimental design

Three-week-old female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to a low-fat or high-fat and high-sucrose diet for 6 weeks. Glucose and insulin tolerance were tested to confirm glucose intolerance and a pre-diabetic state. Female rats were mated with lean males and diets were continued throughout pregnancy and lactation. At the time of weaning offspring from each dam were randomly assigned to either a low-fat or high-fat and sucrose postnatal diet for a total of 12 weeks until they reached 15 weeks of age. Rats were subjected to experimental procedures at the indicated time points. GTT, glucose tolerance test; ITT, insulin tolerance test.