Periconceptional Undernutrition in Sheep Affects Adult Phenotype Only in Males

Table 2

Absolute and relative organ weights at post mortem in male and female offspring of ewes undernourished before (UN-61-0), before and after (UN-61-30) or after (UN-2-30) mating compared with offspring of normally fed ewes (𝑁).

	Male				Female
	𝑁	UN-61-0	UN-61-30	UN-2-30	𝑁	UN-61-0	UN-61-30	UN-2-30
	𝑛=5	𝑛=11	𝑛=10	𝑛=12	𝑛=12	𝑛=12	𝑛=9	𝑛=5
Heart wgt (g)^###	474±23	419±17^∗	431±11	435±33	393±14	370±16	380±11	361±12
Heart: body wgt (g·kg^−1)	5.2±0.2	4.4±0.2^∗∗	4.5±0.1^∗∗	4.5±0.1^∗∗	4.6±0.2	4.4±0.1	4.5±0.1	4.3±0.1
Lung weight^###	965±46	894±28	868±24	849±42	722±25	656±29	713±26	733±27
Lung: body wgt (g·kg^−1)^##	10.6±0.5	9.5±0.3^∗	9.0±0.2^∗∗	8.8±0.3^∗∗	8.5±0.3	8.0±0.4	8.6±0.4	8.8±0.4
Kidney wgt (g)^###	272±24	254±15	287±11	256±10	215±10	216±7	219±11	210±10
Kidney: body wgt (g·kg^−1)^#	3.0±0.2	2.7±0.2	3.0±0.1	2.7±0.1	2.5±0.1	2.6±0.1	2.6±0.1	2.5±0.1
Adrenal wgt (g)	7.0±0.5	6.4±0.4	5.5±0.4^∗	5.8±0.2	5.6±0.3	5.8±0.3	5.7±0.4	5.4±0.5
Adrenal: body wgt (g·kg^−1)	0.077±0.003	0.068±0.005^∗∗	0.057±0.004^∗∗	0.060±0.003	0.067±0.005	0.071±0.004	0.068±0.004	0.065±0.005
Pancreas wgt (g)^###	126±8	118±6	114±7	119±7	97±6	91±5	95±6	99±4
Pancreas: body wgt (g·kg^−1)^#	1.4±0.1	1.2±0.05	1.2±0.1	1.2±0.1	1.2±0.1	1.1±0.05	1.1±0.1	1.2±0.05
Liver wgt (g)^###	1718±173	1307±179	1566±33	1600±72	1246±44	1233±48	1320±45	1328±54
Liver: body wgt (g·kg^−1)	18.6±1.0	13.4±1.7^∗∗@	16.3±0.4	16.5±0.6	14.6±0.5	15.0±0.6	15.8±0.5	15.8±0.3
Spleen wgt (g)^#	295±55	369±36	392±27	383±46	493±58	445±57	449±45	391±93
Spleen: body wgt (g·kg^−1)^###	3.2±0.5	3.9±0.3	4.1±0.3	4.0±0.4	5.7±0.6	5.4±0.7	5.4±0.5	4.6±1.0
Brain	110±9	107±2	109±4	109±2	105±2	106±2	104±3	102±2
Brain: body wgt (g·kg^−1)^###	1.2±0.06	1.1±0.03	1.1±0.03	1.1±0.02	1.2±0.06	1.3±0.05	1.2±0.05	1.2±0.04
Gonad wgt (g)	545±32	735±46^∗∗	676±37	759±25^∗∗	3.4±0.3	2.7±0.1^∗∗	2.9±0.1	2.3±0.1^∗∗
Gonad: body wgt (g·kg^−1)	6.1±0.7	7.9±0.6^∗	7.1±0.4	7.9±1.0^∗	0.040±0.004	0.033±0.002	0.034±0.001	0.028±0.001^∗

Wgt: weight
* 𝑃<0.05, **𝑃<0.01, ***𝑃<0.001 for comparison with 𝑁 
^@𝑃<0.05 for comparison with UN-2-30
^#𝑃<0.05, ^##𝑃<0.01, ^###𝑃<0.001 for difference between males and females.