Early in life dietary zinc deficiency and supplementation and mammary tumors development in adulthood female rats

Zinc deficiency during pregnancy and postnatal life can adversely increase risk of developing human diseases at adulthood. The present study was designed to evaluate whether dietary zinc deficiency or supplementation during the pregnancy, lactation and juvenile stages interferes in the development of mammary tumors induced by 7,12-dimethylbenzanthracene (DMBA) in female Sprague –Dawley (SD) rats. Pregnant female SD rats were allocated into three groups: zinc adequate diet (ZnA - 35 mg/Kg chow), zinc deficient diet (ZnD - 3 mg/Kg chow), or zinc supplemented diet (ZnS - 180 mg/Kg chow) during gestational day 10 (GD 10) until the litters weaning.
Source: The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry - Category: Biochemistry Authors: Source Type: research