Murine fetal development enhanced by dietary vitamin A, corn oil, and inositol.

Previous work on the effects of dietary vitamin A on craniofacial anomalies in mice revealed that 18-day-old fetuses from dams given 200 IU of vitamin A in corn oil daily in their diet weighed approximately 10% more than fetuses from mothers fed the unsupplemented standard mouse diet, Purina 5001. In the experiments reported here, it has been found that water-soluble vitamin A (200 IU/day) and myo-inositol (5 mg/day) added separately to the diets of pregnant mice increased the weight of 11-day gestations by approximately 25% and enhanced development of the eyes by the equivalent of 0.5-1.0 day without significantly affecting development of the liver or hind limbs. Corn oil alone (0.2 ml/day) had a similar effect on weight and eye development of 11-day fetuses and, in addition, growth of the hind limbs was enhanced modestly. The addition to the diet of vitamin A (200 IU/day) dissolved in corn oil (0.2 ml/day) resulted in a 25% increase in the weight of the 11-day fetuses and enhanced development of the eyes and hind limbs by the equivalent of about 1 day of gestation, suggesting that corn oil contains a factor(s) that interacts with vitamin A to accelerate limb development. Corn oil contains very small quantities of beta-carotene or retinol (< 1.0 IU vitamin A/ml); however, it is a rich source of the essential growth factors linoleic and linolenic acids and of inositol esters. The data suggest that the growth-promoting actions of dietary corn oil are due in part to the inositol esters.