Perinatal protein restriction alters metabolics, structurals and contractiles proteins in the soleus muscle of rats

Among the different DOHAD approaches, the consumption of a low-protein diet during pregnancy and/or lactation has been gaining prominence due to the major public health problem that this condition promotes throughout the individual`s life. The alterations resulting from insufficient protein intake, mainly in pregnant and lactating women, involve the low weight of the offspring at birth, the increased risk of developing chronic non-transmissible diseases, as well as promoting morphological, physiological and metabolic adaptations in the skeletal striated muscle, which may change muscle phenotype. The Soleus muscle (SOL), which has oxidative metabolism and slow contraction appears to be more sensitive to morphophysiological changes resulting from perinatal protein restriction. Although studies demonstrate changes in the proportion of fiber types and in the expression of structural and metabolic genes in the SOL muscle of rats born of mothers fed with low protein content, studies that evaluate the signaling pathways involved in these processes need to be better elucidated.