Abstract
To investigate the effects of α-linolenate on reproduction, pregnant rats were orally administered with 100 mg/rat/day of linoleate, α-linolenate or oleate during the first 14 days of gestation. Dams ingested linoleate showed a normal increment of body weight during pregnancy and their newborn rats were normal in the body weight, the histology of skin and function of transepidermal water barrier. On the other hand, the dams ingested α-linolenate and their newborn rats showed almost same properties to those ingested linoleate except for the function of transepidermal water barrier. The function of transepidermal water barrier of rats ingested α-linolenate were impaired. This disorder of barrier function may explain the reason why α-linolenate could not maintain normal reproduction.
