Objective The present study was designed to investigate the effect of parental folate deficiency on the body weight of offspring rats. Method The present study was a reproduction experiment in Sprague-Dawley ( SD) rats, where female and male rats were randomly divided into four groups by feeding interventions: parental folate deficient group ( both female and male rats feed folate level <0. 1 mg / kg) ; maternal folate deficient and paternal folate normal group ( female rats feed folate level <0. 1 mg / kg, male rats feed folate level 2. 0 mg / kg) ; maternal folate normal and paternal folate deficient group ( female rats feed folate level 2. 0 mg / kg, male rats feed folate level <0. 1 mg / kg) ; and the group with normal folic acid in both parental generations (2. 0 mg / kg of folic acid in the feed for both female and male rats) . The offspring were weaned at 4 weeks after birth and fed the same diet as their mothers until 13 weeks. The body weight of parental rats, pregnancy rate and prenatal body weight of maternal rats, food intake and body weight of offspring rats were monitored. During the intervention, the body weight of the parental and the offspring rats were recorded. Result The body weight of both parental rats increased with time, and there was no difference in the body weight of the parental among the four groups. The body weight of the offspring increased with time, and the changes of body mass of the offspring rats before and after weaning were lower in D-D group than in the other 3 groups ( P < 0. 05) .
Conclusion In this study, we haven’ t found folate deficiency could affect the body weight of the parental, while parental folate deficiency may decrease the body weight of the offspring.