Pregnant rats fed with high-fat diet experience preeclampsia-like syndromes

Preeclampsia is a relatively common pregnancy disorder, characterized by primary hypertension and proteinuria. In patients with severe preeclampsia, eclampsia can develop, causing nervous system symptoms and signs.

In the clinic, some patients with preeclampsia suffer from eclampsia even with minimal blood pressure changes. Thus, the pathogenesis of hypertensive encephalopathy cannot fully explain the epilepsy-like attacks in eclampsia patients. We know that changes in neurotransmitter levels in the brain play an important role in epilepsy-like attacks.

A recent study published in the Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 8, No. 20, 2013) fed pregnant rats with a high-fat diet for 20 days. Thus, these pregnant rats experienced preeclampsia-like syndromes such as hypertension and proteinuria. Simultaneously, metabotropic glutamate receptor 1 mRNA and protein expressions were upregulated in the rat hippocampus. These findings indicate that increased expression of metabotropic glutamate receptor 1 promotes the occurrence of high-fat diet-induced preeclampsia in pregnant rats. Therefore, the control of fat intake is significant for the prevention of pregnancy-induced eclampsia.