Influence of maternal consumption of different types of fatty acids during pregnancy and lactation on lipid and glucose metabolism of the 21-day-old male offspring in rats

Maternal dietary fatty acid composition and content prior to and during pregnancy and lactation influences serum profile, liver phenotype and hepatic miRNA expression in young male and female offspring

This study aimed to investigate whether modifying the pre-gestational lipid content could mitigate metabolic damage in offspring from dams exposed to a high-fat (HF) diet before conception and during pregnancy and lactation, with a focus on sex-specific outcomes. Specific effects of maternal normolipidic diets on offspring were also assessed. Female Wistar rats received control (C) or HF diets before conception. During pregnancy and lactation, females were distributed in five groups: C-C, HF-HF, HF-C, HF-saturated (HF-S) or HF-polyunsaturated n-3 group (HF-P). Saturated and PUFA n-3 diets were normolipidic. In 21-day-old offspring, corporal parameters, adiposity, serum metabolites, OGTT, liver phenotype, and miR-34a-5p hepatic expression were determined. Pre-gestational HF diet impaired glycemic response in females, independent of any change in body weight. Female and male offspring from dams continuously exposed to HF diet exhibited hyperglycemia, increased adiposity, and disrupted serum lipid profiles. Male offspring showed increased hepatic fat accumulation and miR-34a-5p expression. Shifting maternal dietary lipid content to normolipidic diets restored offspring's phenotype; however, decreased SIRT1, IRβ and IRS1 expression in offspring from dams exposed to HF diet before conception suggested early indicators of glucose metabolism damage. Our findings indicated a pronounced metabolic impact on males. In conclusion, glucose tolerance impairment in females before conception disturbed intrauterine environment, influencing in offspring's phenotype. Modifying maternal dietary lipid content mitigated effects of pre-gestational HF diet exposure on young offspring. Nevertheless, decreased hepatic levels of critical insulin signaling proteins indicated that independently of the maternal diet, pre-existing HF diet-induced glucose intolerance before conception may adversely program the offspring's phenotype.

Maternal high fat diets: impacts on offspring obesity and epigenetic hypothalamic programming

Maternal high-fat diet (HFD) during pregnancy is associated with rapid weight gain and fetal fat mass increase at an early stage. Also, HFD during pregnancy can cause the activation of proinflammatory cytokines. Maternal insulin resistance and inflammation lead to increased adipose tissue lipolysis, and also increased free fatty acid (FFA) intake during pregnancy (˃35% of energy from fat) cause a significant increase in FFA levels in the fetus. However, both maternal insulin resistance and HFD have detrimental effects on adiposity in early life. As a result of these metabolic alterations, excess fetal lipid exposure may affect fetal growth and development. On the other hand, increase in blood lipids and inflammation can adversely affect the development of the liver, adipose tissue, brain, skeletal muscle, and pancreas in the fetus, increasing the risk for metabolic disorders. In addition, maternal HFD is associated with changes in the hypothalamic regulation of body weight and energy homeostasis by altering the expression of the leptin receptor, POMC, and neuropeptide Y in the offspring, as well as altering methylation and gene expression of dopamine and opioid-related genes which cause changes in eating behavior. All these maternal metabolic and epigenetic changes may contribute to the childhood obesity epidemic through fetal metabolic programming. Dietary interventions, such as limiting dietary fat intake <35% with appropriate fatty acid intake during the gestation period are the most effective type of intervention to improve the maternal metabolic environment during pregnancy. Appropriate nutritional intake during pregnancy should be the principal goal in reducing the risks of obesity and metabolic disorders.

Exposure to trans fat during the developmental period ofDrosophila melanogasteralters the composition of fatty acids in the head and induces depression-like behavior

Given the importance of understanding the disorders caused by trans fatty acids (TFAs), this study sought to add different concentrations hydrogenated vegetable fat (HVF) to the diet of Drosophila melanogaster during the developmental period and evaluate the effects on neurobehavioral parameters. Longevity, hatching rate, and behavioral functions were assessed, such as negative geotaxis, forced swimming, light/dark, mating, and aggressiveness. The fatty acids (FAs) present in the heads of the flies were quantified as well as serotonin (5HT) and dopamine (DA) levels. Our findings showed that flies that received HVF at all concentrations during development showed reduced longevity and hatching rates, in addition to increased depression-like, anxious-like, anhedonia-like, and aggressive behaviors. As for the biochemical parameters, there was a more significant presence of TFA in flies exposed to HVF at all concentrations evaluated and lower 5HT and DA levels. This study shows that HVF during the developmental phase can cause neurological changes and consequently induce behavioral disorders, thereby highlighting the importance of the type of FA offered in the early stages of life.

Parental high-fat high-sugar diet programming and hypothalamus adipose tissue axis in male Wistar rats

PURPOSE

Maternal nutrition during early development and paternal nutrition pre-conception can programme offspring health status. Hypothalamus adipose axis is a target of developmental programming, and paternal and maternal high-fat, high-sugar diet (HFS) may be an important factor that predisposes offspring to develop obesity later in life. This study aims to investigate Wistar rats' maternal and paternal HFS differential contribution on the development, adiposity, and hypothalamic inflammation in male offspring from weaning until adulthood.

METHODS

Male progenitors were fed a control diet (CD) or HFS for 10 weeks before mating. After mating, dams were fed CD or HFS only during pregnancy and lactation. Forming the following male offspring groups: CD-maternal and paternal CD; MH-maternal HFS and paternal CD; PH-maternal CD and paternal HFS; PMH-maternal and paternal HFS. After weaning, male offspring were fed CD until adulthood.

RESULTS

Maternal HFS diet increased weight, visceral adiposity, and serum total cholesterol levels, and decreased hypothalamic weight in weanling male rats. In adult male offspring, maternal HFS increased weight, glucose levels, and hypothalamic NFκBp65. Paternal HFS diet lowered hypothalamic insulin receptor levels in weanling offspring and glucose and insulin levels in adult offspring. The combined effects of maternal and paternal HFS diets increased triacylglycerol, leptin levels, and hypothalamic inflammation in weanling rats, and increased visceral adiposity in adulthood.

CONCLUSION

Male offspring intake of CD diet after weaning reversed part of the effects of parental HFS diet during the perinatal period. However, maternal and paternal HFS diet affected adiposity and hypothalamic inflammation, which remained until adulthood.

Fish Oil Diet during Pre-mating, Gestation, and Lactation in Adult Offspring Rats on Cancer Cachexia Prevention

SCOPE

Nutritional supplementation of the maternal diet can modify the cancer susceptibility in adult offspring. Therefore, the authors evaluate the effects of a fish-oil diet administered to a long-term, during pre-mating, gestation, and lactation, in reducing cancer-cachexia damages in adult Walker-256 tumor-bearing offspring.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Female rats receive control or fish oil diet during pre-mating, gestation, and lactation. After weaning, male offspring are fed the control diet until adulthood and distributed in (C) control adult-offspring; (W) adult tumor-bearing offspring; (OC) adult-offspring of maternal fish oil diet; (WOC) adult tumor-bearing offspring of maternal fish oil diet groups. Fat body mass is preserved, muscle expression of mechanistic target of rapamicin (mTOR) and eukariotic binding protein of eukariotic factor 4E (4E-BP1) is modified, being associated with lower 20S proteasome protein expression, and the liver alanine aminotransferase (ALT) enzyme content maintained in the WOC group. Also, the OC group shows reduced triglyceridemia.

CONCLUSION

In this experimental model of cachexia, the long-term maternal supplementation is a positive strategy to improve liver function and lipid metabolism, as well as to modify muscle proteins expression in the mTOR pathway and also reduce the 20S muscle proteasome protein, without altering the tumor development and muscle wasting in adult tumor-bearing offspring.

Moderate High Caloric Maternal Diet Impacts Dam Breast Milk Metabotype and Offspring Lipidome in a Sex-Specific Manner

Lactation is a critical period during which maternal sub- or over-nutrition affect milk composition and offspring development that can have lasting health effects. The consequences of moderate high-fat, high-simple carbohydrate diet (WD) consumption by rat dams, during gestation and lactation, on milk composition and offspring blood lipidome and its growth, at weaning, were investigated by using a comprehensive lipidomic study on mass-spectrometric platform combined to targeted fatty- and free amino-acids analysis. This holistic approach allowed clear-cut differences in mature milk-lipidomic signature according to maternal diet with a similar content of protein, lactose and leptin. The lower WD-milk content in total fat and triglycerides (TGs), particularly in TGs-with saturated medium-chain, and higher levels in both sphingolipid (SL) and TG species with unsaturated long-chain were associated to a specific offspring blood-lipidome with decreased levels in TGs-containing saturated fatty acid (FA). The sexual-dimorphism in the FA-distribution in TG (higher TGs-rich in oleic and linoleic acids, specifically in males) and SL species (increased levels in very long-chain ceramides, specifically in females) could be associated with some differences that we observed between males and females like a higher total body weight gain in females and an increased preference for fatty taste in males upon weaning.

High Fat Programming and Cardiovascular Disease

Programming is triggered through events during critical developmental phases that alter offspring health outcomes. High fat programming is defined as the maintenance on a high fat diet during fetal and/or early postnatal life that induces metabolic and physiological alterations that compromise health. The maternal nutritional status, including the dietary fatty acid composition, during gestation and/or lactation, are key determinants of fetal and postnatal development. A maternal high fat diet and obesity during gestation compromises the maternal metabolic state and, through high fat programming, presents an unfavorable intrauterine milieu for fetal growth and development thereby conferring adverse cardiac outcomes to offspring. Stressors on the heart, such as a maternal high fat diet and obesity, alter the expression of cardiac-specific factors that alter cardiac structure and function. The proper nutritional balance, including the fatty acid balance, particularly during developmental windows, are critical for maintaining cardiac structure, preserving cardiac function and enhancing the cardiac response to metabolic challenges.