%0 Journal Article
%A Rodríguez, María
%A García García, Rosa María
%A Arias Álvarez, María
%A Formoso-Rafferty Castilla, Nora
%A Millán Pastor, María Pilar
%A López Tello, Jorge
%A Lorenzo González, Pedro Luis
%A González Bulnes, Antonio
%A García Rebollar, Pilar
%T A diet supplemented with n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids influences the metabolic and endocrine response of rabbit does and their offspring
%D 2017
%@ 0021-8812
%U https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/105380
%X The aim of the present study was to evaluate the productive, endocrine, and metabolic responses as well as oxidative stress of rabbit does and their offspring when fed a diet supplemented with n-3 PUFA during their first productive cycle. To this aim, a total of 105 rabbit does were fed ad libitum from d 60 to 172 of age 2 isoenergetic and isoproteic diets differing in fatty acid composition. The control diet (n = 52 does) contained 45.9 g/kg of n-3 of the total fatty acids and the enriched diet (n = 53 does) contained 149.2 g/kg of n-3 of the total fatty acids. Both experimental groups had similar feed intake during rearing, pregnancy, and lactation. The enrichment of diet had no effect on ultrasonographic assessment of does on d 9 and 16 of pregnancy, with an embryonic vesicle number and fetus and placenta size similar between groups (P > 0.05). Even though there were no major effects (P > 0.05) on fertility, duration of gestation, and number born alive and stillborn kits at parturition, live kits from enriched does were longer (71.6 ± 2.42 vs. 79.5 ± 2.13 mm; P < 0.05) and tended to be heavier (42.5 ± 3.94 vs. 50.8 ± 3.47 g; P = 0.07) than those from control does (P < 0.05). The 2 groups had similar milk production and mortality values during lactation; consequently, there were no differences between diets in ADG, litter weight, and number of weaned kits (P > 0.05). In enriched does, higher plasma leptin and estradiol concentrations than in control does (P < 0.05) were observed. In addition, enriched females also had lower total and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) than control females during lactation (P < 0.05). Regarding offspring, the enrichment of diet with PUFA caused a hyperlipidemic status (greater values of plasma triglycerides, total cholesterol, and HDL-c; P < 0.05) at 1 d postpartum (dpp), compared with the control group, that disappeared at 32 dpp. Supplemented does before parturition and their offspring at 1 dpp had greater oxidative stress than those in the control group. In conclusion, an increase of n-3 PUFA concentration in the diet of rabbit does and, consequently, of their offspring during a productive cycle alters their lipid profile and the indicators of oxidative stress, without major endocrine modifications or improvements in the productive variables.
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