Abstract: Purpose: To study the effect of quercetin given during pregnancy and lactation periods of obese rats on physiological and neurological development of the offspring. Methods: Nutritional obese rats were mated, and the pregnant rats were randomly divided into 5 groups of 16 rats each. Fed high fat diet during pregnancy and lactation, obese pregnant rats were administered with quercetin at the dosed of 0, 50, 100, 200 mg/kg by intragastric route throughout pregnancy and lactation. As a negative control group, 16 pregnant SD rats of normal weight were fed basic diet throughout the experimental period. The birth weight and main indicators of physiological and neurological development of the offspring were observed. Results: The verage offspring birth weight of the high-fat-diet (HFD) control group was significantly higher than that of the blank control group and showed a gradual decrease to almost the level of the control group until weaning with increasing quercetin dose. Delayed testicular descent was observed in the male offspring of the HFD control group when compared with the blank control group. Quercetin could reverse the effect with the best efficacy at the dose of 200 mg/kg. The reflexes of surface righting and cliff avoidance were significantly earlier of the offspring in 200 mg/kg by group than those of the blank control and HFD control groups. Conclusion: Averaged birth weight of the offspring of obese pregnant rats is significantly increased, and quercetin can effectively reverse the weight of newborn pups during pregnancy, and controll the excessive growth of body weight during lactation. A certain dose of quercetin can effectively reverse the delay of testicular descent in male offspring due to obesity during pregnancy and can promote the formation of a specific reflex in next generation.

Key words: pregnancy obesity, quercetin, physiological development, neurobehavioral development