Effects of Calcium Intake on Skeleton of Pregnant Rats and Development of their Filial Generation

Objective To explore the effect of calcium intake on skeleton of pregnant rats and development of their filial generation.Methods Sixty three weeks female weaning rats were randomly divided into three groups(Ca-deficient,Ca-suitable and Ca-overfeeding).These rats were fed their diets for 15 weeks.During the 15th week,mating was done;on the 18th day of pregnancy,heads of rats were cut to obtain experimental data.Results Bone calcium and bone mineral content of rats in Ca-deficient group were lower than in Ca-suitable group and Ca-overfeeding group.In Ca-deficient group,bone calcium of pregnant rats was lower than that of non-pregnant rats,but in Ca-suitable group and Ca-overfeeding group,statistical significant difference on bone calcium was not found.The embryonic calcium was remarkably higher in Ca-overfeeding group than in Ca-suitable group and Ca-deficient group,however,there was no difference in embryonic development among three groups.Conclusion There was interaction between pregnancy and Ca-deficiency to reduce femoral calcium content of rats.Overfeeding calcium could increase embryonic calcium,but could not increase femoral calcium of pregnant rats.