Hindawi Publishing Corporation Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine Volume 2012, Article ID 640680, 7 pages doi:10.1155/2012/640680 Research Article Dietary Supplementation of Female Rats with Elk Velvet Antler Improves Physical and Neurological Development of Offspring Jiongran Chen,1, 2 Murray R. Woodbury,3 Jane Alcorn,4 and Ali Honaramooz2 1 Key Laboratory of New Animal Drug Project of Gansu Province, Key Laboratory of Research and Development for Veterinary Pharmaceutics, Ministry of Agriculture, Lanzhou Institute of Animal Science and Veterinary Pharmaceutics, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu 730050, China 2 Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada S7N 5B4 3 Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada S7N 5B4 4 College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada S7N 5C9 Correspondence should be addressed to Ali Honaramooz, ali.honaramooz@usask.ca Received 14 November 2011; Accepted 31 January 2012 Academic Editor: Jang-Hern Lee Copyright © 2012 Jiongran Chen et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Elk velvet antler (EVA) has a traditional use for promotion of general health. However, evidence of EVA eﬀects at diﬀerent lifestages is generally lacking. This paper investigated the eﬀects of long-term maternal dietary EVA supplementation on physical, reﬂexological and neurological development of rat oﬀspring. Female Wistar rats were fed standard chow or chow containing 10% EVA for 90 days prior to mating and throughout pregnancy and lactation. In each dietary group, 56 male and 56 female pups were assessed for physical, neuromotor, and reﬂexologic development postnatally. Among the examined physical developmental parameters, incisor eruption occurred one day earlier in pups nursing dams receiving EVA. Among neuromotor developmental parameters, duration of supported and unsupported standing was longer for pups nursing EVA supplemented dams. Acquisition of neurological reﬂex parameters (righting reﬂex, negative geotaxis, cliﬀ avoidance acoustic startle) occurred earlier in pups nursing dams receiving EVA. Longterm maternal EVA supplementation prior to and during pregnancy and lactation accelerated certain physical, reﬂexologic, and neuromotor developmental milestones and caused no discernible adverse eﬀects on developing oﬀspring. The potential beneﬁts of maternal EVA supplementation on postnatal development warrants further investigation to determine whether EVA can be endorsed for the promotion of maternal and child health. 1. Introduction Velvet antler is a well-known Chinese materia medica used clinically as an ancient oriental natural product for thou- sands of years in the treatment of various diseases and as a tonic [1]. In the 1990s, North American elk farming for the purpose of velvet antler production was a growing industry bolstered by an increasing demand for elk velvet antler (EVA). However, chronic wasting disease, a prion disease, in farmed elk and deer closed many of the traditional markets to North American antler products. A demand for EVA for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has, nevertheless, remained, and dried antler is the most frequently used animal-derived ingredient in TCM prescriptions. Recently, the North American holistic health and natural product industry is rediscovering antler’s beneﬁcial eﬀects, promot- ing its use as a food supplement and nonpharmaceutical therapeutic agent for both human and veterinary medicine applications. According to the principles of TCM, velvet antler has a variety of beneﬁcial health eﬀects. It is prescribed by TCM doctors to enhance the sense of well-being and vitality, improve musculoskeletal function, elevate resistance to dis- ease, and modulate the immune system to decrease allergic response. It is believed also to improve blood circulation, modify blood pressure, and promote rapid healing of tissues and bones [2–4].