Prenatal Dexamethasone and Postnatal High-Fat Diet Decrease Interferon Gamma Production through an Age-Dependent Histone Modification in Male Sprague-Dawley Rats.

ABSTRACT: Overexposure to prenatal glucocorticoid (GC) disturbs hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis-associated neuroendocrine metabolism and susceptibility to metabolic syndrome. A high-fat (HF) diet is a major environmental factor that can cause metabolic syndrome. We aimed to investigate whether prenatal GC plus a postnatal HF diet could alter immune programming in rat offspring. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were given intraperitoneal injections of dexamethasone or saline at 14-21 days of gestation. Male offspring were then divided into four groups: vehicle, prenatal dexamethasone exposure, postnatal HF diet (VHF), and prenatal dexamethasone exposure plus a postnatal HF diet (DHF). The rats were sacrificed and adaptive immune function was evaluated. Compared to the vehicle, the DHF group ha

SUBMITTER: Yu HR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5085643 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature