HOME HELP CONTACT US SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Wang, X. Articles by Du, L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Wang, X. Articles by Du, L.

Department of Endocrinology, The Children’s Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, 57 Zhugan Xiang, Hangzhou 310003, China

(Requests for offprints should be addressed to L Du; Email: dulizhong{at}yahoo.com.cn)

Ghrelin has a correlation with insulin secretion, ß-cell development, and diabetes in crucial development period. The aim of this study was to compare the changes in plasma ghrelin, insulin, and glucose concentrations, and variation of ghrelin expression in the pancreas in response to intrauterine malnutrition in newborn rats. Pregnant rats at day 2 were randomly divided into two groups: nourished (fed ad libitum; NR) and undernourished rats (UR). The offspring of NR were defined as normal-birth-weight group (NBW, n = 79) and those of UR were defined as low-birth-weight group (LBW, n = 74). Plasma glucose, ghrelin, and serum insulin of both dams and their pups were analyzed at the first day after birth. The entire pancreas was collected for determination of ghrelin and insulin mRNAs, and quantification of pancreas ghrelin and insulin. Immunohistochemical double staining and confocal microscopy were performed on rat pancreas. Birth weight was 5.81 ± 0.64 and 4.76 ± 0.23 g in NBW group and LBW group respectively. Fasting plasma ghrelin concentrations in UR group (1382 (1287–1513) pg/ml) were higher than that of NR group (1072 (974–1205) pg/ml). Plasma ghrelin concentrations in the LBW group (2176 (2031–2384) pg/ml) were significantly lower than that of the NBW group (2493 (2311–2675) pg/ml). Undernutrition caused a decrease in plasma insulin concentrations in both UR dams and LBW pups (P < 0.001). Ghrelin mRNA and total ghrelin of pancreas were significantly affected by intrauterine nutrition state. Pancreas insulin concentrations were significantly affected by intrauterine nutrition (P = 0.007). The majority of ghrelin-producing cells were present at the periphery of islets in the NBW group. Ghrelin was colocalized with insulin in ß-cells in LBW group. The percentage of ghrelin-positive cells in the islets of LBW group was significantly higher than that of the NBW group (P < 0.01). Intrauterine undernutrition may affect the birth weight, plasma insulin and ghrelin levels, islet ghrelin expression, and ghrelin cell distribution. It will be interesting to investigate intrauterine nutrition which is involved in islet ghrelin expression and ghrelin cell distribution.