Boujendar, Samira
Arany, Edith
Hill, David
Remacle, Claude
[UCL]
Reusens, Brigitte
[UCL]
In rats, an isoenergetic low protein diet (LP) given throughout gestation perturbs the development of the endocrine pancreas by reducing beta-cell mass and islet vascularization at birth. Taurine, an important amino acid during development, has been found to be low in fetal and maternal plasma. When added to a LP diet, taurine normalizes beta-cell mass. Therefore, we investigated the ability of taurine to correct altered islet vascularization. Rats were given 20% [control (C)] or 8% (LP) protein in the diet with or without supplementation with 25 g/L taurine (T) in drinking water (C+T and LP+T) during gestation and lactation. Immunostaining for vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and fetal liver kinase-1 (Flk-1), a VEGF receptor, was performed on fetal and neonatal pancreatic sections. Blood vessel density and blood vessel number were analyzed morphometrically on semi-thin sections. Taurine supplementation restored a normal volume and numerical density of vessels in fetal islets. The number of cells showing immunoreactivity for VEGF and Flk-1 was reduced by 33 and 45%, respectively, in islet cells from LP fetuses. In 1-mo-old pups, VEGF-positive cells remained decreased by nearly 22%. Both VEGF and Flk-1 were restored in pancreatic endocrine cells of fetuses and pups given taurine. The LP diet induced a threefold overexpression of Flk-1 in ductal cells, which contain precursors of beta cells. However, taurine supplementation was without effect. In conclusion, underexpression of VEGF and Flk-1 is associated with the lower fetal islet vascularization induced by the maternal malnutrition. The addition of taurine to the maternal diet prevents such damage and has a potential role in islet vasculogenesis.
Bibliographic reference |
Boujendar, Samira ; Arany, Edith ; Hill, David ; Remacle, Claude ; Reusens, Brigitte. Taurine supplementation of a low protein diet fed to rat dams normalizes the vascularization of the fetal endocrine pancreas.. In: The Journal of nutrition, Vol. 133, no. 9, p. 2820-5 (2003) |
Permanent URL |
http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/9561 |