effects of maternal westernstyle diet on amniotic fluid volume and amnion vegf profiles in a nonhuman primate model during pregnancy high fat diet hfd induces maternal obesity insulin resistance and placental inflammatory responses that compromise placental and fetal development whether maternal hfd would adversely affect amniotic fluid volume afv has not been explored vascular endothelial growth factor vegf is expressed in the amnion and has been proposed as a regulator of afv our aim was to investigate the effects of hfd on afv and the associated changes in vegf and soluble vegf receptor 1 sflt1 expression profiles in three amnion regions of a nonhuman primate model further we examined the relationships between vegf expression and hfdinduced changes in maternal metabolic status japanese macaques were maintained on control or hfd and amniotic fluid index afi was measured as an ultrasonic estimate of afv amniotic fluid vegf concentrations were determined by elisa and amnion vegf and sflt1 mrna levels by realtime rtqpcr hfd increased maternal plasma triglyceride while glucose levels were unchanged maternal weight gain was found in dietsensitive animals whereas amniotic fluid vegf concentration was reduced in dietresistant animals hfd did not alter afi and there was no correlation between afi and maternal weight or amniotic fluid vegf concentrations vegf mrna levels were lowest in secondary placental amnion while sflt1 mrna were lowest in the primary placental amnion hfd did not affect amnion vegf or sflt1 mrna expression these findings suggest that although maternal hfd increased maternal weight in dietsensitive and reduced amniotic fluid vegf concentrations in dietresistant phenotype afv as indicated by the afi was not significantly affected