Table 4 Birth weight, absolute and relative muscle and organ weights and brain:liver weight ratio of offspring born from oviduct ligated (OL; non crowded) and intact (IN; relatively crowded) fed an unsupplemented (Ctrl) or l-arginine supplemented diet (ARG) from d 14 to 28 of gestation¹

Observations

Birth weight, kg

1.06

1.21

1.58

1.59

0.128

0.008

0.068

0.564

0.137

< 0.001

  Semitendinosus muscle

2.08

2.48

3.47

3.60

0.417

0.025

0.074

0.571

0.426

0.009

  Psoas major muscle

2.15

2.36

3.86

4.02

0.343

0.001

0.232

0.543

0.891

0.024

 Heart

8.34^a

10.54^b

8.35^ab

7.38^ab

1.695

0.418

0.159

0.806

0.005

0.032

 Liver

20.91

27.39

45.98

47.55

5.808

0.004

0.053

0.529

0.290

0.022

 Spleen

1.05

1.00

1.45

1.50

0.164

0.063

0.938

0.918

0.537

0.052

 Lungs

16.48

18.24

19.86

18.66

2.655

0.576

0.750

0.459

0.152

0.010

 Kidneys

7.68

8.93

12.77

12.73

1.516

0.033

0.301

0.771

0.322

0.022

 Brain

32.22

33.01

33.85

34.32

0.781

0.235

0.119

0.621

0.699

0.031

Brain:liver weight ratio

1.36

1.12

0.94

0.92

0.222

0.270

0.077

0.151

0.182

0.001

  Semitendinosus muscle

2.09

2.08

2.19

2.28

0.095

0.328

0.415

0.716

0.341

0.511

  Psoas major muscle

2.06

2.14

2.31

2.39

0.140

0.277

0.276

0.314

0.987

0.483

 Heart

0.70

0.67

0.67

0.65

0.023

0.492

0.030

0.770

0.720

0.338

 Liver

2.21

2.47

2.78

2.77

0.179

0.128

0.192

0.629

0.142

0.343

 Spleen

0.10^b

0.09^a

0.09^ab

0.09^ab

0.006

0.665

0.176

0.734

0.018

0.556

 Lung

1.47

1.39

1.31

1.27

0.109

0.363

0.250

0.235

0.762

0.655

 Kidney

0.74

0.72

0.80

0.82

0.043

0.270

0.764

0.613

0.396

0.627

 Brain

2.87

2.53

2.47

2.50

0.323

0.616

0.169

0.204

0.114

< 0.001