TABLE 3.
Maternal weight and metabolic parameters at key milestones of the study and litter characteristics at birth, according to the maternal diet (control or high-fat diet) and the gel treatment during pregnancy [fish oil or control (no oil gel)].
| Maternal control diet | Maternal high-fat diet | Effect of diet | Effect of treatment | Diet vs. treatment interaction | |||
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| Control | Fish oil | Control | Fish oil | p1 | p1 | p1 | |
| n | 21 | 21 | 16 | 16 | |||
| Maternal weight (g) | |||||||
| Prior to diet allocation (day −14) | 269.3 (3.8) | 270.8 (5.5) | 260.4 (6.0) | 266.3 (8.0) | 0.75 | 0.52 | 0.69 |
| Mating (day 1) | 280.9 (3.7) | 283.9 (4.3) | 291.5 (7.9) | 284.4 (6.3) | 0.84 | 0.83 | 0.87 |
| End of pregnancy (day 18) | 386.6 (5.0) | 389.0 (7.5) | 390.1 (8.1) | 400.6 (11.9) | 0.54 | 0.57 | 0.78 |
| End of lactation (day 42) | 328.8 (5.5) | 336.4 (6.9) | 337.5 (8.5) | 331.8 (8.5) | 0.54 | 0.56 | 0.63 |
| Pregnancy weight gain % | 28.9 (0.6) | 30.0 (1.1) | 32.9 (1.2) | 31.3 (1.5) | 0.37 | 0.22 | 0.42 |
| Maternal food intake | |||||||
| Pregnancy food intake (kcal/g/day) | 0.23 (0.01) | 0.23 (0.01) | 0.25 (0.01) | 0.25 (0.01) | 0.002 | 0.93 | 0.76 |
| Postnatal food intake (kcal/g/day) | 0.52 (0.01) | 0.48 (0.01) | 0.62 (0.02)** | 0.61 (0.02) | 0.001 | 0.33 | 0.09 |
| Birth characteristics | |||||||
| Litter size (n) | 16.4 (1.2) | 14 (0.6) | 14.7 (0.5) | 14.9 (0.4) | 0.69 | 0.15 | 0.58 |
| Sex ratio (% male per litter) | 49.8 (0.2) | 44.4 (0.2) | 52 (0.4) | 57.0 (0.1) | 0.71 | 0.45 | 0.46 |
| Weight of male pups (g) | 6.3 (0.1) | 6.6 (0.1)* | 6.4 (0.1) | 6.2 (0.1) | 0.003 | 0.26 | 0.001 |
| Length of male pups (mm) | 48.9 (0.2) | 49.7 (0.3) | 49.1 (0.3) | 48.9 (0.2) | 0.14 | 0.22 | 0.08 |
| Weight of female pups (g) | 6.1 (0.1) | 6.3 (0.1) | 6.0 (0.1) | 5.8 (0.1) | 0.001 | 0.70 | 0.03 |
| Length of female pups (mm) | 48.3 (0.2) | 48.4 (0.3) | 47.6 (0.3) | 47.1 (0.6) | 0.001 | 0.81 | 0.83 |
| Day 2 culls | |||||||
| Male pups | 21 | 20 | 16 | 16 | |||
| Weight (g) | 6.8 (0.2) | 7.0 (0.2) | 6.9 (0.3) | 6.9 (0.3) | 0.83 | 0.63 | 0.98 |
| Random blood glucose (mmol/l) | 5.1 (0.2) | 5.5 (0.3) | 4.9 (0.2) | 5.1 (0.3) | 0.19 | 0.40 | 0.70 |
| Liver weight (% body weight) | 3.6 (0.2) | 3.7 (0.1) | 4.0 (0.1) | 3.8 (0.2) | 0.96 | 0.10 | 0.35 |
| Female pups | |||||||
| Weight (g) | 6.5 (0.2) | 6.8 (0.3) | 6.6 (0.2) | 6.6 (0.3) | 0.50 | 0.59 | 0.63 |
| Random blood glucose (mmol/l) | 5.1 (0.1) | 5.1 (0.3) | 5.1 (0.2) | 5.2 (0.3) | 0.63 | 0.72 | 0.66 |
| Liver weight (% body weight) | 3.8 (0.1) | 4.0 (0.1) | 5.3 (0.4)* | 3.7 (0.2)†† | 0.31 | 0.59 | 0.36 |
Weight, blood glucose and liver weight percentage of the total body weight of the male and female pups culled on postnatal day 2. Data are Means (SE). p values ≤ 0.05 are bold. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.005 vs. Con-Con, ††p < 0.005 vs. HF-Con—Post hoc tests (Holm-Sidak’s correction). p1 represents p-value of two-way ANOVA with factors including diet and treatment interaction.