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Multigenerational Effects of Dietary Fat Carcinogenesis in Mice¹

Anatomy Department, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824-1316

The possibility of multigenerational transmission of a carcinogenic effect from exposure to a maternal diet high in fat was tested in mice. Diets with 2.6 or 29% fat (by weight) were fed to strain CD-1 mice during pregnancy. The female offspring were raised on a control diet (10% fat), mated, and continued on the control diet through pregnancy. Their female offspring were raised to terminal illness and autopsied. The total number of reproductive system tumors, pituitary tumors, and metastases was increased in the offspring with ancestral exposure to high dietary fat but to a lesser extent than had been reported previously for direct prenatal exposure to high maternal dietary fat. Because previous work has given evidence against germ cell transmission, a hypothesis based on a maternal effect was offered to explain the multigenerational carcinogenesis. These results have implications for epidemiological studies.

¹ This study was funded by NIH Grant RO1 CA39456. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the National Cancer Institute.

² To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at Department of Anatomy, Michigan State University, 519 East Fee Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824-1316.

Received 6/ 9/97. Accepted 8/18/97.

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