Low-Salt Intake during Mating or Gestation in Rats Is Associated with Low Birth and Survival Rates of Babies

Table 2

Mortality rates of the newborn pups until weaning.

Group	Diet (NaCl, w/w)		Rats born; (mother*)	Survival rate during lactation		**Statistics
	Matching	Pregnant		Alive (%)	Dead (%)			Versus
MHPR	4%	0.75%	52 (7)	35 (67)	17 (33)
MLPR	0.3%	0.75%	35 (4)	19 (54)	16 (46)	1.51	0.21	MHPR
MRPR	0.75%	0.75%	59 (7)	39 (66)	20 (34)	0.02	0.89	MHPR
						1.30	0.25	MLPR
						26.82	0.00	MRPH
						0.05	0.82	MRPL
MRPH	0.75%	4.0%	113 (11)	107 (95)	5 (5)
MRPL	0.75%	0.3%	53 (6)	34 (64)	19 (36)	19.88	0.00	MRPH

MHPR: mothers fed the high-salt diet during mating period and the regular chow during pregnancy period; MLPR: mothers fed the low-salt diet during mating period and the regular chow during pregnancy period; MRPR: mothers fed the regular chow during mating period and during pregnant period; MRPH: mothers fed the regular chow during mating period and the high-salt diet pregnancy period; MRPL: mothers fed the regular chow during mating period and the low-salt diet during pregnancy period. Rats born: the total number of newborn pups; alive: the number of rats that were alive until weaning; dead: the number of rats that died before weaning. *: mothers that delivered babies. **The differences in alive pups were assessed by test (df = 1). 0.75% NaCl (w/w) chow (regular chow) is usually used for maintaining rat colonies.