Antenatal exposure to the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor fluoxetine leads to postnatal metabolic and endocrine changes associated with type 2 diabetes in Wistar rats.

Hypothesis: 10-15% of women take antidepressant medications during pregnancy. A recent clinical study reported that the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants during pregnancy is linked with an increased risk of postnatal obesity. While obesity is often associated with fatty liver, dyslipidemia and inflammation, to date, the effects of perinatal exposure to SSRIs on these outcomes are unknown.

Protein restoration in low-birth-weight rat offspring derived from maternal low-protein diet leads to elevated hepatic CYP3A and CYP2C11 activity in adulthood.

The World Health Organization has identified hypercholesterolemia to be one of the major symptoms encompassing the metabolic syndrome. Moreover, epidemiologic evidence indicates that low-birth-weight offspring are at greater risk of developing the metabolic syndrome. Previous work in our laboratory demonstrated that maternal protein restriction (MPR) results in impaired fetal growth and hypercholesterolemia in adulthood.