Project description:Maternal obesity can program metabolic syndrome in offspring but the mechanisms are not well characterized. Moreover, the consequences of maternal overnutrition in the absence of frank obesity remain poorly understood. This study aimed to determine the effects of maternal consumption of a high fat-sucrose diet on the skeletal muscle metabolic and transcriptional profiles of adult offspring. Female Sprague Dawley rats were fed either a diet rich in saturated fat and sucrose (HFD, 23.5% fat, 20% sucrose wt/wt) or a standard chow diet (NFD, 7% fat, 10% sucrose w/w) for the 3 weeks prior to mating and throughout pregnancy and lactation. Although maternal weights were not different between groups at conception or weaning, HFD dams were ~22% heavier than chow fed dams from mid-pregnancy until 4 days post-partum. Adult male offspring of HFD dams were not heavier than controls but demonstrated features of insulin resistance including elevated plasma insulin concentration (+40%, P<0.05). Next Generation mRNA Sequencing was used to identify differentially expressed genes in the soleus muscle of offspring, and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) to detect coordinated changes that are characteristic of a biological function. GSEA identified 15 pathways enriched for up-regulated genes, including cytokine signaling (P<0.005), starch and sucrose metabolism (P<0.017), and inflammatory response (P<0.024). A further 8 pathways were significantly enriched for down-regulated genes including oxidative phosphorylation (P<0.004) and electron transport (P<0.022). Western blots confirmed a ~60% reduction in the phosphorylation of the insulin signaling protein Akt (P<0.05) and ~70% reduction in mitochondrial complexes II (P<0.05) and V expression (P<0.05). On a normal diet, offspring of HFD dams developed an insulin resistant phenotype, with transcriptional evidence of muscle cytokine activation, inflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction. These data indicate that maternal overnutrition, even in the absence of pre-pregnancy obesity can promote metabolic dysregulation and predispose offspring to type 2 diabetes. Messenger RNA profile of skeletal muscle of male offspring from female Sprague Dawley rats fed either a diet rich in saturated fat and sucrose (HFD, 23.5% fat, 20% sucrose wt/wt) or a standard chow diet (NFD, 7% fat, 10% sucrose w/w) for the 3 weeks prior to mating and throughout pregnancy and lactation. There were 5 HFD samples compared to 6 NFD control samples.

Project description:Though obesity is a global epidemic, the physiological mechanisms involved are little understood. Recent advances reveal that susceptibility to obesity can be programmed by maternal and neonatal nutrition. Specifically, a maternal low protein diet during pregnancy causes decreased intrauterine growth, rapid postnatal catch-up growth and increased risk for diet-induced obesity. Given that the synthesis of the neurotransmitter 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) is nutritionally regulated and 5-HT is a trophic factor, we hypothesized that maternal diet influences fetal 5-HT exposure, which then influences central appetite network development and the subsequent efficacy of 5-HT to control energy balance in later life. Consistent with our hypothesis, pregnant low protein fed rat mothers exhibited elevated serum 5-HT, which was also evident in the placenta and fetal brains at E16.5. This increase was associated with reduced hypothalamic expression of 5-HT2CR - the primary 5-HT receptor influencing appetite. As expected, reduced 5-HT2CR expression was associated with impaired sensitivity to 5-HT-mediated appetite suppression. 5-HT primarily achieves effects on appetite via 5-HT2CR stimulation of pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) peptides within the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus (ARC). We reveal that 5-HT2ARs are also anatomically positioned to influence the activity of ARC POMC and that 5-HT2AR mRNA is increased in the hypothalamus of in utero growth restricted offspring that underwent rapid postnatal catch-up growth. Furthermore, these animals are more sensitive to 5-HT2AR agonist-induced appetite suppression. These findings may not only reveal a 5-HT-mediated mechanism underlying programming of obesity susceptibility but also provide a promising means to correct it, via a 5-HT2AR agonist treatment. The study was carried out using male Wistar rats (Rattus norvegicus). On postnatal day 3, two experimental groups of offspring were established: controls (offspring of control dams) and recuperated (offspring of dams fed a low-protein diet (8% protein, w/v), but nursed by control dams. The animals were fed with standard chow until 3 months of age where the brains were collected for transcriptomic profiling

Project description:Maternal diet is associated with the development of metabolism-related and other non-communicable diseases in offspring. Underlying mechanisms, functional profiles, and molecular markers are only starting to be revealed. Here, we explored the physiological and molecular impact of maternal Western-style diet on the liver of male and female offspring. C57BL/6 dams were exposed to either a low fat/low cholesterol diet (LFD) or a Western-style high fat/high cholesterol diet (WSD) for six weeks before mating, as well as during gestation and lactation. Dams and offspring were sacrificed at postnatal day 14, and body, liver, and blood parameters were assessed. The impact of maternal WSD on the pups' liver gene expression was characterised by whole-transcriptome microarray analysis. Exclusively male offspring had significantly higher body weight upon maternal WSD. In offspring of both sexes of WSD dams, liver and blood parameters, as well as hepatic gene expression profiles were changed. In total, 686 and 604 genes were differentially expressed in liver (pM-bM-^IM-$0.01) of males and females, respectively. Only 10% of these significantly changed genes overlapped in both sexes. In males, in particular alterations of gene expression with respect to developmental functions and processes were observed, such as Wnt/beta-catenin signalling. In females, mainly genes important for lipid metabolism, including cholesterol synthesis, were changed. We conclude that maternal WSD affects physiological parameters and induces substantial changes in the molecular profile of the liver in two-week-old pups. Remarkably, the observed biological responses of the offspring reveal pronounced sex-specificity. C57BL/6 dams were exposed to either a low fat/low cholesterol diet (LFD) or a Western-style high fat/high cholesterol diet (WSD) as six weeks pre-treatment before mating, as well as during gestation and lactation. Offspring were sacrificed at postnatal week two, livers were removed and RNA samples were subjected to gene expression profiling.

Project description:The offspring of older fathers have an increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia and autism. It has been proposed that de novo point mutations and copy number variants (CNVs) in the continually dividing spermatogonia underlie this association. In light of the evidence implicating CNVs with schizophrenia and autism, here we use a mouse model to test the hypothesis that the offspring of older males have an increased risk of de novo CNVs. Three-month-old and fourteen- to sixteen-month-old C57BL/6J sires were mated with three-month-old dams to create control offspring and offspring of old sires, respectively. Applying genome-wide microarray screening technology, seven distinct CNVs were identified in a discovery set of twelve offspring and their parents. Competitive quantitative PCR was employed to confirm the variants and establish their frequency in a replication set of 77 offspring and their parents. Six de novo CNVs were detected in the offspring of older sires, while none were detected in the control group. One of the de novo CNVs involved Auts2 (autism susceptibility candidate 2), and other CNVs included genes linked to schizophrenia, autism and brain development. Two of the CNVs were associated with behavioural and/or neuroanatomical phenotypic features. This is the first experimental demonstration that the offspring of older males have more de novo CNVs. The results suggest that offspring of older fathers may be at increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia and autism via the generation of de novo CNV in the male germline. In light of the trends for delayed parenthood in many societies, and in light of the potential for these CNVs to accumulate over subsequent generations, the impact of these mechanisms on the health of future generations warrants closer scrutiny. 2 sires of advanced paternal age (12-16 months of age) and 2 control (3 months of age) sires were mated to dams (3 months of age) to create 6 offspring of advanced paternal age (APA) and 6 control offspring (C), respectively, with an even number of sexes within each group of offspring. A commerical aCGH and a custom CNV array (both supplied by Agilent) were used in combination to detect copy number variations in the genomes of the offspring and their parents. DNA from all male animals was hybridized against a male reference animal and that from all female animals against a female reference animal.

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EWAT transcriptomic analysis in male rat offspring of HF-fed dams treated with GSPE or vehicle during pregnancy and lactation

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