Maternal Undernutrition Results in Transcript Changes in Male Offspring that May Promote Resistance to High Fat Diet Induced Weight Gain
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ABSTRACT: Maternal nutrition during embryonic development and lactation influences multiple aspects of offspring health. Using mice, this study investigates the effects of maternal caloric restriction (CR) during mid-gestation and lactation on offspring neonatal development and on adult metabolic function when challenged by a high fat diet (HFD). The CR maternal model produced male and female offspring that were significantly smaller, in terms of weight and length, and females had delayed puberty. Adult offspring born to CR dams had a sexually dimorphic response to the high fat diet. Compared to offspring of maternal control dams, adult female, but not male, CR offspring gained more weight in response to high fat diet at 10 weeks. In adipose tissue of male HFD offspring, maternal undernutrition resulted in blunted expression of genes associated with weight gain and increased expression of genes that protect against weight gain. Regardless of maternal nutrition status, HFD male offspring showed increased expression of genes associated with nonalcoholic liver disease (NAFLD). Furthermore, we observed significant, sexually dimorphic differences in serum TSH. These data reveal tissue- and sex-specific changes in gene and hormone regulation following mild maternal undernutrition, which may offer protection against diet induced weight gain in adult male offspring.
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:Early-life exposure to high-fat diet (HF) can program metabolic and cognitive alterations in adult offspring. Although the hippocampus plays a crucial role in memory and metabolic homeostasis, few studies reported the impact of maternal HF on this structure. We assessed the effects of maternal HF during lactation on physiological, metabolic and cognitive parameters in young adult offspring mice. To identify early-programming mechanisms in hippocampus, we developed a multi-omics strategy in male and female offspring. Maternal HF induced a transient increased body weight at weaning, a mild glucose intolerance only in 3-month-old male mice with no change in plasma metabolic parameters in adult male and female offspring. Behavioral alterations revealed by Barnes maze test were observed both in 6-month-old male and female mice. Multi-omics strategy unveiled sex-specific transcriptomic and proteomic modifications in the hippocampus of adult offspring. These studies, that were confirmed by regulon analysis, showing that, although genes whose expression was modified by maternal HF were different between sexes, the main pathways affected were similar with mitochondria and synapses as main hippocampal targets of maternal HF. The effects of maternal HF reported here may help to better characterize sex-dependent molecular pathways involved in cognitive disorders and neurodegenerative diseases.
Project description:PURPOSE: To examine if a parental high fat diet (HFD) influences metabolic health in two generations of offspring, and alters the germ cell (GC) transcriptome. PROCEDURE: GC-eGFP Sprague Dawley rats were weaned onto HFD (45% fat) or Control Diet (CD; 10% fat). After metabolic testing, founders (F0) were bred with controls, establishing the F1 generation. Germ cells from F0 males were isolated and their RNA sequenced. F1 rats were bred with control rats at 17 weeks to generate F2 offspring. FINDINGS: HFD resulted in 9.7% and 14.7% increased weight in male and female F0 respectively. F1 offspring of HFD mothers were heavier than controls. F1 daughters of HFD-fed males were also heavier. F2 male offspring derived from HFD-fed maternal grandfathers were 7.2% heavier, and exhibited increases of 31% in adiposity, 97% in plasma leptin and 300% in luteinising hormone to testosterone ratio. HFD exposure did not alter the F0 GC transcriptome. CONTROLS: Matched CD was consumed by all animals not consuming the HFD. Animals were compared to a parallel cohort of CD rats. CONCLUSIONS: HFD consumption by maternal grandfathers results in a disrupted metabolic phenotype in grandsons. This effect is not mediated by alterations to the GC transcriptome.
Project description:The arrays were used to explore how parents’ obesity status influence their offspring’s weight. We randomly assigned three-week-old mice to two groups, one group receiving a high-fat diet (HFD), the other group receiving a control diet (chow). Adult females of both groups were mated to males fed with HFD or CD. F1 transcriptome assay data were created from four tissues (liver, epigonal visceral, inguinal subcutaneous, and interscapular brown adipose tissue) of male offspring in relation to their parents’ obesity status.
Project description:Aims: Epidemiological and animal studies have shown that maternal diet can influence metabolism in adult offspring. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying these changes remain poorly understood. Here, we aim to explore phenotypes induced by maternal obesity in a mouse model and examine gene expression and epigenetic alterations in adulthood induced by maternal diet. Methods: We analyzed genetically identical male mice born from dams fed a high- or low-fat diet throughout pregnancy and until day 21 postpartum. After weaning, half of the males of each group were fed a high-fat diet, the other half a low-fat diet. We first characterized the genome-wide gene expression patterns of six tissues of adult offspring - liver, pancreas, white adipose, brain, muscle and heart [GSE40903] . We then measured DNA methylation patterns in liver at selected loci and throughout the genome. Results: Maternal diet had a significant effect on the body weight of the offspring when they are fed an obesogenic diet after weaning. Our analyses showed that maternal diet had a pervasive effect on gene expression, with a pronounced effect in liver where it affected many genes involved in inflammation, cholesterol synthesis and RXR activation. Maternal diet had no detectable effect on DNA methylation in the liver. Conclusions: Overall, our findings highlighted the persistent influence of maternal diet on adult tissue regulation and suggested that the transcriptional changes were unlikely to be caused by DNA methylation differences in adult liver. Methylation is compared between nine week old animals fed a common diet as adults, but derived from mothers fed different diets.
Project description:Aims: Epidemiological and animal studies have shown that maternal diet can influence metabolism in adult offspring. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying these changes remain poorly understood. Here, we aim to explore phenotypes induced by maternal obesity in a mouse model and examine gene expression and epigenetic alterations in adulthood induced by maternal diet. Methods: We analyzed genetically identical male mice born from dams fed a high- or low-fat diet throughout pregnancy and until day 21 postpartum. After weaning, half of the males of each group were fed a high-fat diet, the other half a low-fat diet. We first characterized the genome-wide gene expression patterns of six tissues of adult offspring - liver, pancreas, white adipose, brain, muscle and heart [GSE40903] . We then measured DNA methylation patterns in liver at selected loci and throughout the genome. Results: Maternal diet had a significant effect on the body weight of the offspring when they are fed an obesogenic diet after weaning. Our analyses showed that maternal diet had a pervasive effect on gene expression, with a pronounced effect in liver where it affected many genes involved in inflammation, cholesterol synthesis and RXR activation. Maternal diet had no detectable effect on DNA methylation in the liver. Conclusions: Overall, our findings highlighted the persistent influence of maternal diet on adult tissue regulation and suggested that the transcriptional changes were unlikely to be caused by DNA methylation differences in adult liver. Methylation is compared between nine week old animals fed a common diet as adults, but derived from mothers fed different diets. Sequence of PCR amplification of bisulfite converted genomic DNA of numerous loci
Project description:Background: Epidemiological studies suggest an association between maternal obesity and adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes in offspring. Objective: To compare the global proteomic portrait in the cerebral cortex between mice born to mothers on a high-fat or control diet who themselves were fed a high-fat or control diet. Methods: Male mice born to dams fed a control (C) or high fat (H) diet four weeks before conception and during gestation and lactation were assigned to either C or H diet at weaning. Mice (n=24) were sacrificed at 19-weeks and their cerebral cortices were pooled into 8 samples and analysed using an iTRAQ based 2D LC-MS methodology. Results: A total of 6,695 proteins were identified and fully quantified (q<0.01). Approximately 10% of these proteins demonstrated a minimum of one Standard Deviation of regulation across all biological replicates in at least one of the experimental groups (CH, HC, HH) relative to the control (CC). Principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering analysis showed that mice clustered based on the diet of the mother and not their current diet. In silico bioinformatics analysis revealed that maternal high-fat diet was significantly associated with response to hypoxia/oxidative stress and apoptosis in the cerebral cortex of the adult offspring. Conclusion: Maternal high-fat diet was associated with distinct endophenotypic changes of the adult mouse cerebral cortex independent of the diet of the offspring. The identified modulated proteins could represent novel therapeutic targets for the prevention of neuropathological features resulting from maternal obesity.
Project description:Aims: Epidemiological and animal studies have shown that maternal diet can influence metabolism in adult offspring. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying these changes remain poorly understood. Here, we aim to explore phenotypes induced by maternal obesity in a mouse model and examine gene expression and epigenetic alterations in adulthood induced by maternal diet. Methods: We analyzed genetically identical male mice born from dams fed a high- or low-fat diet throughout pregnancy and until day 21 postpartum. After weaning, half of the males of each group were fed a high-fat diet, the other half a low-fat diet. We first characterized the genome-wide gene expression patterns of six tissues of adult offspring - liver, pancreas, white adipose, brain, muscle and heart [GSE40903] . We then measured DNA methylation patterns in liver at selected loci and throughout the genome. Results: Maternal diet had a significant effect on the body weight of the offspring when they are fed an obesogenic diet after weaning. Our analyses showed that maternal diet had a pervasive effect on gene expression, with a pronounced effect in liver where it affected many genes involved in inflammation, cholesterol synthesis and RXR activation. Maternal diet had no detectable effect on DNA methylation in the liver. Conclusions: Overall, our findings highlighted the persistent influence of maternal diet on adult tissue regulation and suggested that the transcriptional changes were unlikely to be caused by DNA methylation differences in adult liver.
Project description:Aims: Epidemiological and animal studies have shown that maternal diet can influence metabolism in adult offspring. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying these changes remain poorly understood. Here, we aim to explore phenotypes induced by maternal obesity in a mouse model and examine gene expression and epigenetic alterations in adulthood induced by maternal diet. Methods: We analyzed genetically identical male mice born from dams fed a high- or low-fat diet throughout pregnancy and until day 21 postpartum. After weaning, half of the males of each group were fed a high-fat diet, the other half a low-fat diet. We first characterized the genome-wide gene expression patterns of six tissues of adult offspring - liver, pancreas, white adipose, brain, muscle and heart [GSE40903] . We then measured DNA methylation patterns in liver at selected loci and throughout the genome. Results: Maternal diet had a significant effect on the body weight of the offspring when they are fed an obesogenic diet after weaning. Our analyses showed that maternal diet had a pervasive effect on gene expression, with a pronounced effect in liver where it affected many genes involved in inflammation, cholesterol synthesis and RXR activation. Maternal diet had no detectable effect on DNA methylation in the liver. Conclusions: Overall, our findings highlighted the persistent influence of maternal diet on adult tissue regulation and suggested that the transcriptional changes were unlikely to be caused by DNA methylation differences in adult liver.
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.