Mechanism of delayed puberty in rats whose mothers consumed Hibiscus sabdariffa during lactation

Figures & data

Table 1.  Effect of consumption of Hibiscus sabdariffa during lactation on maternal fluid and food intake.

Groups	Mean fluid (mL/day) and food (g/day) intake
	1^st week of lactation		2^nd week of lactation		3^rd week of Lactation
	Fluid intake	Food intake	Fluid intake	Food intake	Fluid intake	Food intake
Control	27.7 ± 0.8	19.3 ± 0.6	33.2 ± 1.3	24.5 ± 0.9	32.5 ± 1.4	23.8 ± 0.8
0.6 g/100 mL	16.2 ± 1.4*	16.2 ± 0.7*	20.3 ± 0.8*	20.3 ± 0.7*	20.8 ± 1.1*	20.0 ± 0.9*
1.8 g/100 mL	16.5 ± 0.7*	15.2 ± 0.8*	16.8 ± 0.5*†	15.3 ± 0.6*†	20.2 ± 0.9*	18.2 ± 1.0*

Control group, tap water; no HS. N = 6 each. Values are expressed as mean ± SEM; *, P < 0.05 versus control; †, P < 0.05 versus control and 0.6 g/100 mL.

Table 2.  Effect of consumption of aqueous HS on maternal weight changes during lactation.

Groups	Maternal weight changes (g)
	Pregravid wt	PPD 0	PPD 7	PPD 14	PPD 21
Control	125.0 ± 4.5	180.0 ± 12.7*	189.8 ± 6.9*	194.0 ± 9.5*	183.7 ± 8.3*
0.6 g/100 mL	128.8 ± 8.6	177.5 ± 7.8*	185.5 ± 2.5†*	200.5 ± 5.5†*	202.0 ± 3.5†*
1.8 g/100 mL	122.5 ± 2.3	167.5 ± 7.8*	172.9 ± 5.7*	183.8 ± 7.8*	185.1 ± 7.1*

N=6/group; Wt, weight; PPD, postpartum day; *, P < 0.05 versus pregravid weight; †, P < 0.05 versus 1.8 g/100 mL group.

Table 3.  Effect of maternal consumption of HS during lactation on absolute postnatal weight of the offspring.

Groups	Mean absolute postnatal weight (g)
	PND 0	PND 21	PND 28	PND 35	PND 42
Control	5.61 ± 0.14	22.78 ± 0.65	32.78 ± 0.77	48.33 ± 0.93	55.83 ± 1.44
0.6 g/100 mL	5.72 ± 0.09	26.89 ± 1.80*	41.83 ± 2.46*	76.67 ± 1.44^†	94.58 ± 5.80^†
1.8 g/100 mL	5.67 ± 0.14	28.61 ± 1.31*	44.44 ± 1.34*	62.22 ± 0.98*	82.5 ± 0.63*

PND, Postnatal day; N = 9/group; *, P < 0.05 versus Control; ^†, P < 0.05 versus control and 1.8 g/100 mL.

Table 4.  Effect of maternal consumption of HS during lactation on absolute postnatal weight gain of the offspring.

Groups	Postnatal weight gain (g)
	PND 21	PND 28	PND 35	PND 42
Control	17.17 ± 0.70	27.17 ± 0.81	42.72 ± 0.86	50.22 ± 1.42
0.6 g/100 mL	21.17 ± 1.81*	36.11 ± 2.44*	70.94 ± 1.45^†	88.86 ± 5.79^†
1.8 g/100 mL	22.94 ± 1.31*	38.78 ± 1.28*	56.56 ± 1.04*	76.83 ± 0.60*

PND, Postnatal day; N = 9/group; *, P < 0.05 versus control; ^†, P < 0.05 versus control and 1.8 g/100 mL.

Table 5.  Effect of maternal consumption of HS during lactation on rate of weight gain of the offspring.

Groups	Mean rate of weight gain (g/day)
	PND 21	PND 28	PND 35	PND 42
Control	0.82 ± 0.03	1.43 ± 0.06	2.22 ± 0.23	1.07 ± 0.26
0.6 g/100 mL	1.01 ± 0.09*	2.13 ± 0.27*	4.98 ± 0.42^†	2.56 ± 0.88*
1.8 g/100 mL	1.09 ± 0.06*	2.26 ± 0.18*	2.54 ± 0.19	2.90 ± 0.18*

PND, Postnatal day; N = 9/group; *, P < 0.05 versus control; ^†, P < 0.05 versus control and 1.8 g/100 mL.

Table 6.  Effect of consumption of HS during lactation on maternal plasma Na⁺ and corticosterone concentration.

Doses of HS consumed	Na^+ (mmol/L)	Corticosterone (ng/mL)
Control	138.17 ± 1.01	13.5 ± 0.5
0.6 g/100 mL	145.5 ± 1.06*	14.83 ± 0.6
1.8 g/100 mL	149.33 ± 1.76*	16.83 ± 0.48^†

N = 6/group; *, P < 0.05 versus control; ^†, P < 0.05 versus control and 0.6 g/100 mL.

Table 7.  Effect of maternal consumption of HS during lactation on offspring age and body weight at onset of puberty.

	0.6 g/100 mL	1.8 g/100 mL	Control
Age (days)	49.67 ± 1.55*	48.78 ± 1.70*	43.11 ± 1.84
Weight (g)	116.11 ± 5.70*	100.28 ± 4.92*	58.89 ± 1.96

N = 9 each; Values are expressed as mean ± SEM; PPD, postpartum day; *, P < 0.05 compared with control.