scholarly journals Alteration of the Early Development Environment by Maternal Diet and the Occurrence of Autistic-like Phenotypes in Rat Offspring

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (18) ◽  
pp. 9662
Author(s):  
Kinga Gawlińska ◽  
Dawid Gawliński ◽  
Ewelina Kowal-Wiśniewska ◽  
Małgorzata Jarmuż-Szymczak ◽  
Małgorzata Filip
Keyword(s):  
High Fat Diet ◽  
Maternal Obesity ◽  
Maternal Diet ◽  
Repetitive Behavior ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
High Fat ◽  
Development Environment ◽  
Rat Offspring ◽  
Adolescent Offspring ◽  
Pregnancy And Lactation

Epidemiological and preclinical studies suggest that maternal obesity increases the risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in offspring. Here, we assessed the effects of exposure to modified maternal diets limited to pregnancy and lactation on brain development and behavior in rat offspring of both sexes. Among the studied diets, a maternal high-fat diet (HFD) disturbed the expression of ASD-related genes (Cacna1d, Nlgn3, and Shank1) and proteins (SHANK1 and TAOK2) in the prefrontal cortex of male offspring during adolescence. In addition, a maternal high-fat diet induced epigenetic changes by increasing cortical global DNA methylation and the expression of miR-423 and miR-494. As well as the molecular changes, behavioral studies have shown male-specific disturbances in social interaction and an increase in repetitive behavior during adolescence. Most of the observed changes disappeared in adulthood. In conclusion, we demonstrated the contribution of a maternal HFD to the predisposition to an ASD-like phenotype in male adolescent offspring, while a protective effect occurred in females.

Relationship of maternal high-fat diet during pregnancy and lactation to offspring health

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kinga Gawlińska ◽  
Dawid Gawliński ◽  
Małgorzata Filip ◽  
Edmund Przegaliński
Keyword(s):  
High Fat Diet ◽  
Maternal Nutrition ◽  
System Development ◽  
Maternal Diet ◽  
Nervous System Development ◽  
High Fat ◽  
Preclinical Research ◽  
Intrauterine Development ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Pregnancy And Lactation

Abstract A balanced maternal diet is essential for proper fetal development, and the consumption of a nutritionally inadequate diet during intrauterine development and early childhood is associated with a significantly increased risk of metabolic and brain disorders in offspring. The current literature indicates that maternal exposure to a high-fat diet exerts an irreversible influence on the general health of the offspring. This review of preclinical research examines the relationship between a maternal high-fat diet during pregnancy or lactation and metabolic changes, molecular alterations in the brain, and behavioral disorders in offspring. Animal models indicate that offspring exposed to a maternal high-fat diet during pregnancy and lactation manifest increased depressive-like and aggressive behaviors, reduced cognitive development, and symptoms of metabolic syndrome. Recently, epigenetic and molecular studies have shown that maternal nutrition during pregnancy and the suckling period modifies the development of neurotransmitter circuits and many other factors important to central nervous system development. This finding confirms the importance of a balanced maternal diet for the health of offspring.

scholarly journals Maternal high-fat diet during pregnancy and lactation reduces the appetitive behavioral component in female offspring tested in a brief-access taste procedure

2014 ◽  
Vol 306 (7) ◽  
pp. R499-R509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yada Treesukosol ◽  
Bo Sun ◽  
Alexander A. Moghadam ◽  
Nu-Chu Liang ◽  
Kellie L. Tamashiro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Opioid Receptor ◽  
High Fat Diet ◽  
Corn Oil ◽  
Sucrose Concentration ◽  
Maternal Diet ◽  
Female Offspring ◽  
Chow Diet ◽  
High Fat ◽  
Endogenous Opioid ◽  
Pregnancy And Lactation

Maternal high-fat diet appears to disrupt several energy balance mechanisms in offspring. Here, female offspring from dams fed a high-fat diet (HF) did not significantly differ in body weight compared with those fed chow (CHOW), when weaned onto chow diet. Yet when presented with both a chow and a high-fat diet, high-fat intake was significantly higher in HF compared with CHOW offspring. To assess taste-based responsiveness, offspring (12 wk old) were tested in 30-min sessions (10-s trials) to a sucrose concentration series in a brief-access taste test. Compared with CHOW, the HF offspring initiated significantly fewer trials but did not significantly differ in the amount of concentration-dependent licking. Thus, rather than affect lick response (consummatory), maternal diet affects spout approach (appetitive), which may be attributed to motivation-related mechanisms. Consistent with this possibility, naltrexone, an opioid receptor antagonist, further reduced trial initiation, but not licking in both groups. With naltrexone administration, the group difference in trial initiation was no longer evident, suggesting differences in endogenous opioid activity between the two groups. Relative expression of μ-opioid receptor in the ventral tegmental area was significantly lower in HF rats. When trial initiation was not required in one-bottle intake tests, no main effect of maternal diet on the intake of sucrose and corn oil emulsions was observed. Thus, the maternal high-fat diet-induced difference in diet preference is not likely due to changes in the sensory orosensory component of the taste stimulus but may depend on alterations in satiety signals or absorptive mechanisms.

scholarly journals In utero exposure to prepregnancy maternal obesity and postweaning high-fat diet impair regulators of mitochondrial dynamics in rat placenta and offspring

2014 ◽  
Vol 46 (23) ◽  
pp. 841-850 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah J. Borengasser ◽  
Jennifer Faske ◽  
Ping Kang ◽  
Michael L. Blackburn ◽  
Thomas M. Badger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Fat Diet ◽  
Maternal Obesity ◽  
Mitochondrial Dynamics ◽  
Later Life ◽  
In Utero ◽  
Mitochondrial Morphology ◽  
Peroxisome Proliferator ◽  
High Fat ◽  
Peroxisome Proliferator Activated Receptor ◽  
Rat Offspring

The proportion of pregnant women who are obese at conception continues to rise. Compelling evidence suggests the intrauterine environment is an important determinant of offspring health. Maternal obesity and unhealthy diets are shown to promote metabolic programming in the offspring. Mitochondria are maternally inherited, and we have previously shown impaired mitochondrial function in rat offspring exposed to maternal obesity in utero. Mitochondrial health is maintained by mitochondrial dynamics, or the processes of fusion and fission, which serve to repair damaged mitochondria, remove irreparable mitochondria, and maintain mitochondrial morphology. An imbalance between fusion and fission has been associated with obesity, insulin resistance, and reproduction complications. In the present study, we examined the influence of maternal obesity and postweaning high-fat diet (HFD) on key regulators of mitochondrial fusion and fission in rat offspring at important developmental milestones which included postnatal day (PND)35 (2 wk HFD) and PND130 (∼16 wk HFD). Our results indicate HFD-fed offspring had reduced mRNA expression of presenilin-associated rhomboid-like (PARL), optic atrophy (OPA)1, mitofusin (Mfn)1, Mfn2, fission (Fis)1, and nuclear respiratory factor (Nrf)1 at PND35, while OPA1 and Mfn2 remained decreased at PND130. Putative transcriptional regulators of mitochondrial dynamics were reduced in rat placenta and offspring liver and skeletal muscle [peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator (PGC1)α, PGC1β, and estrogen-related receptor (ERR)α], consistent with indirect calorimetry findings revealing reduced energy expenditure and impaired fat utilization. Overall, maternal obesity detrimentally alters mitochondrial targets that may contribute to impaired mitochondrial health and increased obesity susceptibility in later life.

scholarly journals Maternal high-fat diet induces sex-specific changes to glucocorticoid and inflammatory signaling in response to corticosterone and lipopolysaccharide challenge in adult rat offspring

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanoji Wijenayake ◽  
Mouly F. Rahman ◽  
Christine M.W. Lum ◽  
Wilfred C. De Vega ◽  
Aya Sasaki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
High Fat Diet ◽  
Maternal Obesity ◽  
Inflammatory Responses ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
High Fat ◽  
Inflammatory Gene Expression ◽  
Inflammatory Genes ◽  
Inflammatory Gene ◽  
Rat Offspring

ABSTRACTBackgroundAcute elevations in endogenous corticosterone (CORT) with psychosocial stress or exogenous administration potentiate inflammatory gene expression. Maternal obesity as a result of high-fat diet (HFD) consumption has been linked to higher basal levels of neuroinflammation, including increased expression of pro-inflammatory genes in the amygdala. These findings suggest that exposure to maternal HFD may elicit pro-inflammatory responses in the presence of an immune stressor such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a component of gram-negative bacteria, as well as acute elevated CORT.MethodsRat offspring were exposed to maternal HFD or control diet (CHD) throughout pre and postnatal development until weaning, when all offspring were provided CHD until adulthood. In adulthood, offspring were ‘challenged’ with administration of exogenous CORT, to simulate an acute physiological stress, LPS, to induce an immune stress, or both. qPCR was used to measure transcript abundance of CORT receptors and downstream inflammatory genes in the amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, brain regions that mediate neuroendocrine and behavioral responses to stress.ResultsHFD female offspring exhibited elevations in anti-inflammatory transcripts, whereas HFD male offspring responded with greater pro-inflammatory gene expression to simultaneous CORT and LPS administration.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that exposure to maternal HFD leads to sex-specific alterations that may alter inflammatory responses in the brain, possibly as an adaptive response to basal inflammation.

scholarly journals Maternal high-fat diet programs cerebrovascular remodeling in adult rat offspring

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (11) ◽  
pp. 1954-1967 ◽  
Author(s):  
ChengCheng Lin ◽  
XiaoYun Wu ◽  
YuLei Zhou ◽  
Bei Shao ◽  
XiaoTing Niu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Fat Diet ◽  
Maternal Diet ◽  
Control Diet ◽  
Endothelial Damage ◽  
Adult Offspring ◽  
High Fat ◽  
Adult Rat ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Pregnancy And Lactation ◽  
And Function

Maternal environmental factors such as diet have consequences on later health of the offspring. We found that maternal high-fat diet (HFD) exposure renders adult offspring brain more susceptible to ischemic injury. The present study was further to investigate whether HFD consumption during rat pregnancy and lactation influences the cerebral vasculature in adult male offspring. Besides the endothelial damage observed in the transmission electron microscopy, the MCAs of offspring from fat-fed dams fed with control diet (HFD/C) also displayed increased wall thickness and media/lumen ratio, suggesting that cerebrovascular hypertrophy or hyperplasia occurs. Moreover, smaller lumen diameter and elevated myogenic tone of the MCAs over a range of intralumenal pressures indicate inward cerebrovascular remodeling in HFD/C rats, with a concomitant increase in vessel stiffness. More importantly, both wire and pressure myography demonstrated that maternal HFD intake also enhanced the MCAs contractility to ET-1, accompanied by increases in ET types A receptor (ETAR) but not B (ETBR) density in the arteries. Furthermore, ETAR antagonism but not ETBR antagonism restored maternal HFD-induced cerebrovascular dysfunction in adult offspring. Taken together, maternal diet can substantially influence adult offspring cerebrovascular health, through remodeling of both structure and function, at least partially in an ET-1 manner.

scholarly journals Maternal High-Fat Diet Modulates Cnr1 Gene Expression in Male Rat Offspring

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 2885
Author(s):  
Dawid Gawliński ◽  
Kinga Gawlińska ◽  
Irena Smaga
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
High Fat Diet ◽  
Cpg Islands ◽  
Male Offspring ◽  
Epigenetic Mechanism ◽  
Male Rat ◽  
High Fat ◽  
Rat Offspring ◽  
Pregnancy And Lactation ◽  
Cnr1 Gene

In recent years, strong evidence has emerged that exposure to a maternal high-fat diet (HFD) provokes changes in the structure, function, and development of the offspring’s brain and may induce several neurodevelopmental and psychiatric illnesses. The aims of this study were to evaluate the effects of a maternal HFD during pregnancy and lactation on depressive-like behavior and Cnr1 gene expression (encoding the CB1 receptor) in brain structures of rat offspring and to investigate the epigenetic mechanism involved in this gene expression. We found that a maternal HFD during pregnancy and lactation induced a depressive-like phenotype at postnatal days (PNDs) 28 and 63. We found that a maternal HFD decreased the Cnr1 mRNA levels in the prefrontal cortex with the increased levels of miR-212-5p and methylation of CpG islands at the Cnr1 promoter and reduced the level of Cnr1 gene expression in the dorsal striatum with an increased level of miR-154-3p in adolescent male offspring. A contrasting effect of a maternal HFD was observed in the hippocampus, where upregulation of Cnr1 gene expression was accompanied by a decrease of miR-154-3p (at PNDs 28 and 63) and miR-212-5p (at PND 63) expression and methylation of CpG islands at the Cnr1 promoter in male offspring. In summary, we showed that a maternal HFD during pregnancy and lactation triggered several epigenetic mechanisms in the brains of rat offspring, which may be related to long-lasting alterations in the next generation and produce behavioral changes in offspring, including a depressive-like phenotype.

scholarly journals Maternal diet disrupts the placenta-brain axis in a sex-specific manner

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexis M Ceasrine ◽  
Benjamin A Devlin ◽  
Jessica L Bolton ◽  
Young Chan Jo ◽  
Carolyn Huynh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Fat Diet ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Maternal Diet ◽  
Fetal Brain ◽  
First Trimester ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Adult Brain ◽  
Maternal Weight ◽  
High Fat ◽  
Triglyceride Accumulation

High maternal weight is associated with a number of detrimental outcomes in offspring, including increased susceptibility to neurological disorders such as anxiety, depression, and communicative disorders (e.g. autism spectrum disorders). Despite widespread acknowledgement of sex-biases in the prevalence, incidence, and age of onset of these disorders, few studies have investigated potential sex-biased mechanisms underlying disorder susceptibility. Here, we use a mouse model to demonstrate how maternal high-fat diet causes perinatal inflammation that influences sex-specific behavioral outcomes in offspring. In male high-fat diet offspring, increased macrophage toll like receptor 4 signaling results in excess phagocytosis of serotonin neurons in the developing dorsal raphe nucleus, decreasing serotonin bioavailability in the fetal and adult brain. Bulk sequencing from a large cohort of matched first trimester human fetal brain, placenta, and maternal decidua samples reveals sex-specific transcriptome-wide changes in placenta and brain tissue. Further, we find that fetal brain serotonin is significantly negatively correlated with maternal triglyceride accumulation (a proxy for dietary fat content) in male pregnancies only. These findings uncover a fundamental mechanism through which maternal diet may increase offspring susceptibility for neuropsychiatric disorder development.

scholarly journals Effects of a high-fat diet during pregnancy and lactation are modulated by E. coli in rat offspring

2011 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 744-751 ◽  
Author(s):  
F Fåk ◽  
C L J Karlsson ◽  
S Ahrné ◽  
G Molin ◽  
B Weström
Keyword(s):  
High Fat Diet ◽  
High Fat ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Rat Offspring ◽  
Pregnancy And Lactation
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