Effect of Maternal Water Restriction on Sexual Behavior, Reproductive Performance, and Reproductive Hormones of Male Rat Offspring
2020
Author
Ja’far Al-Khaza’leh (Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Al-Balqa Applied University, P.O. Box 19117, Al- Salt, Jordan), Rami Kridli (New-Life Mills, A Division of Parrish & Heimbecker, Limited, Cambridge, ON N1T 2H9, Canada), Belal Obeidat (Faculty of Agriculture, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid 22110, Jordan), Shahera Zaitoun (Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Al-Balqa Applied University, P.O. Box 19117, Al- Salt, Jordan), Anas Abdelqader (School of Agriculture, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan)
Abstract
The present study aimed to investigate the effect of maternal water restriction on sexual behavior, reproductive performance, and reproductive hormones of male rat offspring. Forty pregnant female rats were divided into two equal groups: Control (C) and water-restricted (WR). Control dams had ad libitum water access throughout pregnancy, while dams in the WR group were subjected to 50% water-restriction from day 10 of pregnancy onwards. The maternal water restriction provoked a significant reduction (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.05) in body weight of dams before delivery and at birth and litter body weights of offspring at birth. Maternal water restriction did not affect relative weights of reproductive and body organs of male rat offspring. All hormonal concentrations, sperm count, and vitality in male rat offspring were not significantly affected by maternal water restriction. Maternal water restriction exposure induced significant (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.05) reduction in intromission latency, intromission frequency, and post-ejaculation interval in male rat offspring while a significant (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.05) increase in the ejaculation latency was detected in maternal WR group. In conclusion, this study suggests that maternal water restriction had a negative impact on some reproductive characteristics but did not severely affect reproductive performance and reproductive hormones of male rat offspring.
DOI
10.3390/ani10030379
Journal
Animals
Source
DOAJ