Influence of maternal dietary fat upon rat pups.

Mother rats were fed purified rations containing different fats during gestation and lactation and at 1 day after parturition. Litter sizes were reduced to 2 male and 2 female pups. The behavior and the brain chemical composition of these selected pups were compared with similarly selected pups from dams fed a commercial ration. All offspring were fed a commercial ration after weaning. Pups from dams fed 20% safflower oil were similar to controls. Feeding 20% cocoa butter to dams resulted in pups with reduced exploratory activity and with a rapid learning performance in a T-maze, employing the aversive stimulation of an electrical shock. Feeding dams a fat-free ration produced pups which had reduced rates of growth, small brains at 2 months of age, and low brain concentrations of cholesterol, DNA, and RNA.