Food restriction during pregnancy in rabbits: effects on hormones and metabolites involved in energy homeostasis and metabolic programming.

Food restriction altered leptin, insulin, T3, non-esterified fatty acids and glucose concentrations depending on the gestational phase in which it was applied, confirming that the endocrinology of pregnancy and the adaptive responses to energy deficit make the rabbit an ideal model for studying nutritional-related disorders and foetal programming of metabolic disease.