Early oleate deficiency leads to severe defects in fetal rat liver development
Fatemeh Mohammadzadeh, Alireza Alihemmati, Abbas Pirpour Tazehkand, Masoud Darabi, Amir Mehdizadeh|Liver and Gastrointestinal Diseases Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran, Department of Anatomical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran, Department of Biochemistry and Clinical Laboratories, Faculty of Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran, Endocrine Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran, Comprehensive Health Lab, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran|2019|Iranian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences|22:9:1010-1015 doi: 10.22038/ijbms.2019.35084.8345
Any defects in maternal and embryo metabolism status can affect embryo hepatic development. Recent studies have suggested that oleate-rich diet can benefit hepatic gene expression and energy homeostasis, however the role of oleate in hepatic development remains unknown. In this study, the influence of early oleate deficiency on fetal rat liver development was evaluated. This was induced by the inhibitor of de novo oleate synthesis MF-438. After mating, pregnant rats were divided into three groups and gavaged with the vehicle, MF-438, or MF-438 plus oleate from day 3 of pregnancy for five days. The liver tissues were then retrieved from the obtained foetuses where the morphological index, biochemical markers and gene expression of hepatic development markers were analysed by using Hematoxylin-Eosine, spectrometry and RT-qPCR techniques, respectively. It was observed that total hepatic protein and glycogen content increases with treatment of MF-438 plus oleate. Hepatocyte nuclear factor 1a, alpha fetoprotein, albumin and cytochrome P450 gene expression were also significantly increased in comparison to the other two groups. The data indicates that oleate availability during early embryo development is linked with fetal rat liver development.