Fig. 6.

A combined depletion of insulin and branched-chain amino acids (bcaa) during in vitro preimplantation embryo development results in the production of offspring with no significant changes in organ weight, but slight alteration in organ allometry. Murine offspring is the result of transfer of blastocysts (into well-fed embryo recipients) derived from 2-cell embryos cultured in either 100% (N = Normal) or 50% (L = Low) serum insulin levels with either 100% or 50% of bcaa concentrations found in the uterine luminal fluid of well-fed mice. Compared to controls (N-insulin + N-bcaa), L-insulin + L-bcaa females showed increased heart:body weight ratio. n = offspring number derived from 8 to 9 litters. Multilevel random effect regression analysis. *P < 0.05, ♦P < 0.10 (Trend).