Abstract

Evidence in both humans and animals has shown that exercise before or during pregnancy may effect fetal outcome. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the effects of an exercise program on fetal development in the rat. Prior to impregnation one group of animals was exercise-trained on a Quinton shock-stimulus rodent treadmill. The exercised group was trained to run 5 days/wk, for 2.0 h/day at 31 m/min up an 8 degrees incline for 8 wk before mating. Following mating the training intensity was reduced to 27 m/min up a 5 degrees incline, and the exercise period decreased to 1 h/day. On day 19 of gestation, 24 H postexercise for the trained mothers, the animals were killed in the fed state and the maternal and fetal characteristics were measured. The sedentary controls gained significantly more body weight during pregnancy. This can be attributed to three factors: higher number of fetuses, larger litter weights, and slightly larger lipid stores. In addition to having fewer pups the trained mothers had a greater number of fetal resorptions; 09/dam as opposed to 0.17/dam for the sendentary control. Analysis of fetal body composition showed no difference in total body water, protein, or fat between the pups of sedentary and trained dams. The results of this study indicate that exercise training prior to and during pregnancy influences fetal development in the rat. Verf.-Referat