2009 Volume 30 Issue 6 Pages 325-330
We analyzed the effect of low birth weight on pancreatic β cell mass. We used pregnant C57BL6J mice, and we reduced their food supply by 30% during the late gestational period and examined the changes in the metabolism and pancreatic β cell mass. Pancreatic β cell mass at birth was greatly decreased in the mice of the food restriction group (RG) as compared to the mice of the control group (CG). The body weight of RG mice exhibited a “catch-up growth” pattern and became equivalent to that of CG mice 7 days after birth, and thereafter exceeded that of CG mice; however, the pancreatic β cell mass in RG mice remained lower than that in CG mice at the age of 4 weeks. A high-fat diet significantly increased the pancreatic β cell mass in RG mice as compared to that in CG mice at 12 weeks of age. However, RG mice fed on high-fat diets tended to exhibit a decrease in the pancreatic β cell mass at approximately 20 weeks of age. The plasma insulin concentrations also tended to be decreased in RG mice after 24 weeks of age as compared to those of CG mice. These results thus indicate that the growth of pancreatic β cells is insufficient in RG mice, and pancreatic β cell failure can easily develop as a consequence of insulin resistance.
