The effects of a maternal hypercaloric diet (HD) during puberty and early adulthood on neuroimmune aspects in offspring were investigated. In female rats of the F generation and male rats of the F generation, bodyweight (BW) gain, retroperitoneal fat (RPF) weight, the number of hypodermic adipocytes (HAs) and expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) were measured in hypothalamic astrocytes. On Postnatal Day 50, the F pups were challenged with lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 100µgkg, s.c.) or an equal volume of saline (S), and behaviour in the open field test was evaluated, as were plasma neuropeptide and cytokine concentrations. The maternal HD caused the female F rats to become overweight. The F offspring of dams fed the HD and challenged with saline (HDS group) exhibited increases in BW gain, RPF weight and in the number of large HAs and a decrease in GFAP immunoreactivity. F offspring of dams fed the HD and challenged with LPS (HDLPS group) exhibited decreases in BW gain, RPF weight and GFAP immunoreactivity, but no differences were observed in the number of larger and small HAs. Plasma tumour necrosis factor-α concentrations were high in the HDS and HDLPS groups. Thus, the maternal HD during puberty and early adulthood caused the F generation to become overweight despite the fact that they received a normocaloric diet. These results indicate a transgenerational effect of the HD that may occur, in part, through permanent changes in immune system programming. The attenuation of neuroinflammation biomarkers after LPS administration may have resulted in a decrease in the number of adipocytes, which, in turn, reduced cytokine, adipokine and chemokine levels, which are able to recruit inflammatory cells in adipose tissue.

HD induced astrogliosis in several brain areas in females from F0 generation and an adaptive phenotypic change of decreased GFAP expression in males from F1 generation after LPS challenge.

The present study investigated whether male offspring (F generation) from female rats (F generation) whose mothers (F generation) were food restricted during gestation inherit a phenotypic transgenerational tendency towards being overweight and obese in the juvenile period, in the absence of food restriction in the F/F generations. Dams of the F generation were 40% food restricted during pregnancy. Bodyweight, the number and size of larger and small hypodermal adipocytes (HAs), total retroperitoneal fat (RPF) weight and the expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in periventricular hypothalamic astrocytes (PHAs), as determined by immunohistochemistry, were evaluated in both generations. In the female F generation, there was low bodyweight gain only during the juvenile period (30-65 days of age), a decrease in the size of small adipocytes, an increase in the number of small adipocytes, an increase in RPF weight and an increase in GFAP expression in PHAs at 90-95 days of age. In males of the F generation at 50 days of age, there was increased bodyweight and RPF weight, and a small number of adipocytes and GFAP expression in PHAs. These data indicate that the phenotypic transgenerational tendency towards being overweight and obese was observed in females (F) from mothers (F) that were prenatally food restricted was transmitted to their male offspring.

These data show an attenuation of LPS effect on GFAP expression, probably by a transgenerational effect of both maternal food deprivation in F0 generation and HD in F1 generation.

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