Nutrition of the conceptus: aspects of its regulation

Viewed simplistically, nutrition of the developing conceptus can be seen as an added cost on the nutrient requirements of the pregnant animal.However, although the additional nutritional cost for maintenance and tissue accretion in the conceptus represents a moderately-small toll on the nutritional economy of the mother for much of gestation, provision of adequate nutrients to support growth of the conceptus is clearly more complex and involves considerable adaptive responses on the part of the mother throughout gestation.Without doubt maternal nutritional state itself affects growth of the developing conceptus.Severe maternal undernutrition at all stages of gestation, but particularly in late pregnancy, significantly reduces fetal growth and the birth weight of infants (Rosso, 1981;