PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

E M Widdowson

Publications and source records attributed to E M Widdowson.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1976

Body lipids of guinea pigs exposed to different dietary fats from mid-gestation to 3 months of age. III. The fatty acid composition of the lipids of plasma, adipose tissue, liver and muscle at 3 months of age.

Pregnant guinea pigs were fed one of three diets: a 'control' low-fat diet, or a high-fat diet containing maize oil or beef dripping. Offspring were reared on the same diet as their mothers and when they were 3 months old, fatty acid compositions of the lipids of the adipose tissue, blood plasma, liver and muscle were analysed. The proportion of linoleic acid was elevated in both the storage triglycerides and the tissue phosphoglycerides of animals fed 'maize' diet whereas in the 'beef' group the proportion of oleic acid was significantly elevated compared with controls. A substantial part of these diet-induced changes in tissue fatty acid composition had occurred by the time animal was born; only minor changes took place in the subsequent 3 months of feeding.

Adipose Tissue↗
PubMed1976

Changes in the organs of pigs in response to feeding for the first 24 h after birth. III. Fluorescence histochemistry of the carbohydrates of the intestine.

The duodenum, jejunum, ileum and large intestine of newborn, and 24-hour-old fed and unfed piglets, and of 10-day-old piglets have been studied by new histochemical methods. At birth Meissner's plexus was most developed in the duodenum. There was little change during the first 24 h, but by 10 days it had become elaborated. Goblet cells were present at birth in all parts of the intestine. After 24 h a large proportion of those in the duodenum had discharged and were being replaced with a new generation. Similar changes took place more slowly in the jejunum and ileum and very much more slowly in the large intestine. Feeding increased the rate of turnover.

Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena↗
PubMed1975

Body fat of British and Dutch infants.

The fatty acids in the body fat of 41 British and 37 Dutch infants between birth and 1 year were determined. At birth linoleic acid contributed 1-3% of the total fatty acids of the body fat in infants in both countries. By one month its proportion in the fat of the Dutch infants was about 25% and by four months 32-37%; in the fat of the British infants it was never more than 3%. In the Dutch infants this large increase in the linoleic acid percentage was accompanied by a fall in the percentage contribution of others, particularly the saturated acids myristic, palmitic, and stearic. Infants born preterm showed changes in their fat after birth similar to those in fullterm infants. The difference between the composition of the fat of the infants in the two countries is attributed to the nature of the fat in the milk they received. Until recently most British infants who are not breast-fed have been given milks based on cow's milk with only minor modifications. For the past 10 years many Dutch infants have been given a milk in which all the cow's milk fat has been replaced by maize oil. Dutch infants also had a lower concentration of cholesterol in their serum than British infants, which was not unexpected. The results show that the triglycerides in the adipose tissue are profoundly influenced by the nature of the fat in the diet.

Adipose Tissue↗
PubMed1975

Effects of severe energy and protein deficiencies on the fibres and nuclei in skeletal muscle of pigs.

1. Measurements have been made of the size and number of muscle fibres and number of nuclei in a small indicator muscle (m. flexor digiti V brevis) in the fore-foot of the pig. Well-nourished, 10-d-old and 1-year-old animals were studied, as well as 1- and 2-year-old animals that were severely energy-deficient and protein-deficient. 2. The normal 1-year-old animals had much larger muscle fibres, with more nuclei, than the pigs in any of the other groups. 3. There were no significant differences between the numbers of fibres in the muscles of pigs in any of the four groups. 4. There was a significant difference between the number of fibres in the muscles of pigs coming from different litters, irrespective of their dietary history after birth. This suggests that the number of fibres is determined genetically before birth, and all that can take place after birth is an alteration in size.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1975

The influence of diets deficient in energy, or in protein, on conceptus weight, and the placental transfer of a non-metabolisable amino acid in the guinea pig.

The effect on the guinea pig conceptus of feeding the mother diets deficient in energy or in protein has been investigated. Fetal uptake of a labelled non-metabolisable amino acid, amino-isobutyric acid, injected into the maternal blood stream, was studied at the end of gestation. Both diets retarded fetal growth, influencing litter number and fetal and placental weight. The relationship between fetal and placental weight was similar in the control and restricted-calorie animals, and the transfer studies showed that placental function and fetal uptake per unit weight was similar in the two. Feeding a low-protein diet caused the ratio between fetal and placental weight to increase; enhanced placental transfer and fetal uptake also suggested the possibility of adaptation when the calorie supply is adequate.

Aminoisobutyric Acids↗
PubMed1975

A review: new thoughts on growth.

There is a critical point in development when the size of an animal, arising from its previous plane of nutrition, determines its appetite thereafter, and hence its rate of growth and dimensions at maturity. A small size at this critical time, brought about by undernutrition, is not followed by "catch-up" growth, however liberal the diet. A full diet produces catch-up growth only if the undernutrition, whatever its cause, has occurred after this critical period is over. It can, moreover, only restore a young animal to its percentile channel of growth, and its ability to do this after long periods of undernutrition becomes progressively limited by the animals chronologic age when the catch-up growth became possible.

Age Factors↗