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Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder predisposes to metabolic abnormalities in adulthood.

ABSTRACT: Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) affects at least 10% of newborns globally and leads to the development of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs). Despite its high incidence, there is no consensus on the implications of PAE on metabolic disease risk in adults. Here, we describe a cohort of adults with FASDs that had an increased incidence of metabolic abnormalities, including type 2 diabetes, low HDL, high triglycerides, and female-specific overweight and obesity. Using a zebrafish model for PAE, we performed population studies to elucidate the metabolic disease seen in the clinical cohort. Embryonic alcohol exposure (EAE) in male zebrafish increased the propensity for diet-induced obesity and fasting hyperglycemia in adulthood. We identified several consequences of EAE that may contribute to these phenotypes, including a reduction in adult locomotor activity, alterations in visceral adipose tissue and hepatic development, and persistent diet-responsive transcriptional changes. Taken together, our findings define metabolic vulnerabilities due to EAE and provide evidence that behavioral changes and primary organ dysfunction contribute to resultant metabolic abnormalities.

SUBMITTER: Weeks O

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7190939 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder predisposes to metabolic abnormalities in adulthood.

Weeks Olivia O Bossé Gabriel D GD Oderberg Isaac M IM Akle Sebastian S Houvras Yariv Y Wrighton Paul J PJ LaBella Kyle K Iversen Isabelle I Tavakoli Sahar S Adatto Isaac I Schwartz Arkadi A Kloosterman Daan D Tsomides Allison A Charness Michael E ME Peterson Randall T RT Steinhauser Matthew L ML Fazeli Pouneh K PK Goessling Wolfram W

The Journal of clinical investigation 20200501 5

Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) affects at least 10% of newborns globally and leads to the development of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs). Despite its high incidence, there is no consensus on the implications of PAE on metabolic disease risk in adults. Here, we describe a cohort of adults with FASDs that had an increased incidence of metabolic abnormalities, including type 2 diabetes, low HDL, high triglycerides, and female-specific overweight and obesity. Using a zebrafish model for PA ...[more]

PMID: 32202514

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Project description:Background: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is a developmental disorder that manifests through a range of cognitive, adaptive, physiological, and neurobiological deficits resulting from prenatal alcohol exposure. Although the North American prevalence is currently estimated at 2-5%, FASD has proven difficult to identify in the absence of the overt physical features characteristic of fetal alcohol syndrome. As interventions may have the greatest impact at an early age, accurate biomarkers are needed to identify children at risk for FASD. Building on our previous work identifying distinct DNA methylation patterns in children and adolescents with FASD, we have attempted to validate these associations in a different clinical cohort and to use our DNA methylation signature to develop a possible epigenetic predictor of FASD. Methods: Genome-wide DNA methylation patterns were analyzed using the Illumina HumanMethylation450 array in the buccal epithelial cells of a cohort of 48 individuals aged 3.5-18 (24 FASD cases, 24 controls). The DNA methylation predictor of FASD was built using a stochastic gradient boosting model on our previously published dataset FASD cases and controls (GSE80261). The predictor was tested on the current dataset and an independent dataset of 48 autism spectrum disorder cases and 48 controls (GSE50759). Results: We validated findings from our previous study that identified a DNA methylation signature of FASD, replicating the altered DNA methylation levels of 161/648 CpGs in this independent cohort, which may represent a robust signature of FASD in the epigenome. We also generated a predictive model of FASD using machine learning in a subset of our previously published cohort of 179 samples (83 FASD cases, 96 controls), which was tested in this novel cohort of 48 samples and resulted in a moderately accurate predictor of FASD status. Upon testing the algorithm in an independent cohort of individuals with autism spectrum disorder, we did not detect any bias towards autism, sex, age, or ethnicity. Conclusion: These findings further support the association of FASD with distinct DNA methylation patterns, while providing a possible entry point towards the development of epigenetic biomarkers of FASD.

Project description:Although prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) reduces offspring growth, it may increase obesity risk at adolescence. Animal models of PAE display glucose intolerance and increased adiposity, suggesting that PAE causes metabolic reprogramming. We tested this hypothesis in a mouse model of binge PAE, wherein pregnant C57Bl/6J females received 3 g/kg alcohol (ETOH) daily from gestational day 12.5 to 17.5; maltodextrin (MD) and medium chain triglycerides (MCT) served as isocaloric nutritional controls, and sham (H2O) treatment controlled for gavage stress. Our comprehensive assessment quantified body composition, energy expenditure, glucose tolerance, and cardiovascular function in offspring at age 17 weeks. Although ETOH pups were initially lighter than all other groups, they did not have a unique obesogenic phenotype. Instead, a similar obesogenic phenotype emerged in all three caloric groups (MCT, MD, ETOH), such that caloric groups had greater post-weaning weight gain (both sexes), reduced gonadal fat weight (males), and reduced glucose clearance (males) compared against H2O offspring. PAE did not affect body composition, respiratory exchange ratio, metabolic adaption to high-fat or low-fat diet, eating behavior, and blood pressure, and ETOH values did not differ from those obtained from isocaloric controls. Exposure to a higher alcohol dose (4.5 g/kg) or a high-fat (60%) diet did not exacerbate differences in body composition or glucose tolerance. "PAE-specific" effects on postnatal growth, glucose tolerance, adiposity, or hypertension only emerged when PAE offspring were compared just against H2O controls, or against MD controls. We conclude that prior reports of obesity and glucose intolerance in adult PAE offspring reflect the contribution of added gestational calories, and not alcohol's pharmacologic action. Results suggest that the increased adiposity risk in FASD is not caused by metabolic reprogramming, and instead originates from behavioral, medication, and/or dietary practices. This study highlights the importance of appropriate dietary controls in nutritional studies of PAE.

Dataset Information

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder predisposes to metabolic abnormalities in adulthood.

Publications

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder predisposes to metabolic abnormalities in adulthood.

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