Effects of Maternal Under-nutrition on the Coronary Arterioles in Sheep Fetuses

The maternal nutritional status during pregnancy and even before conception may lead to cardiovascular risk in luminal diameters. In present study, effects of maternal under-nutrition on the wall thickness, wall thickness to luminal diameter ratio and related parameters of coronary arterioles of sheep fetuses were investigated. One group was raised on high diet and the other on low maintenance diet. The tissue samples were taken from ventricular myocardium, fixed in neutral buffered formaldehyde solution and processed by using paraffin tissue preparation techniques. Round arterioles were selected from different microscopic fields of the prepared tissue sections. The coronary arterioles were measured with image analysis software, Image J®. Live weight of well-nourished sheep (68.7±3.67 kg) and birth weight of lambs (6.55±0.43 kg) was significantly increased as compared to undernourished sheep (56.8±3.04 kg) and lambs (5.85±0.65 kg), respectively. Intima media thickness (IMT) of coronary arterioles was significantly higher in undernourished sheep fetuses (11.51±0.54 μm) than well-nourished sheep fetuses (10.21±0.64 μm). IMT to luminal diameter ratio was also significantly higher in undernourished group fetuses (0.59±0.08 μm) than well-nourished group fetuses (0.35±0.12 μm). However, perimeter of coronary arterioles was significantly reduced in fetuses of undernourished sheep (124.22±7.38 μm) than fetuses (153.10±7.38 μm) obtained from well-nourished sheep. The results revealed that maternal under-nutrition increases the IMT and decreases the diameter and perimeter of coronary arterioles in sheep fetuses.