Maternal high-fat diet during pregnancy or lactation changes the somatic and neurological development of the offspring

Abstract

The increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity is a global public health problem that affects both sexes and all age groups, especially women in reproductive age 1 . Currently 65% of the population in the world lives in countries in which obesity causes more deaths than malnutrition 2 . Moreover, the induced-high fat diet (HFD) maternal obesity has risen dramatically over the past 20 years, by nearly 42% in African-Americans and 29% in Caucasians 3 . Within this context, fetuses and newborns are increasingly exposed to maternal HFD which may cause problems in growth and brain deve lopment 4 . However, few stu dies ha ve investigated the effects of maternal HFD on the brain development of the offspring 5,6, particularly isolating or separating the periods of pregnancy and lactation. On the other hand, most studies have evalua ted the effects of maternal obesity or HFD intake along gestation and lactation, hindering the identification of AbstrAct:The maternal exposure to high fat diet (HFD) during pregnancy and breastfeeding have been considered an important inducer of alterations in offspring normal programming, both in animals and humans, and may disturb brain development. In the present study we investigated the somatic and sensory-motor development of the offspring from rat dams fed a HFD, compared with dams fed a control diet, during pregnancy or lactation. Indicators of the body growth, physical maturation, and reflex ontogeny were evaluated. Offspring of dams fed a HFD showed reduced weight and body growth, delayed physical maturation, and delayed maturation of the physiological reflexes, such as vibrissa placing, auditory startle response, and free-fall righting. Our findings suggest that maternal HFD during pregnancy or lactation modifies somatic and neurological development of the offspring, possibly increasing the risk of neuroendocrine and neuropsychiatric disorders later in life.Keywords: high fat diet, pregnancy, lactation, somatic growth, reflex ontogeny, offspring. resuMo:A exposição materna a dieta rica em gordura (DRG) durante a gravidez e a amamentação tem sido considerada um importante indutor de alterações da programação normal da prole, em animais e humanos, e pode atrapalhar o desenvolvimento do cérebro. No presente estudo, investigamos o desenvolvimento somático e sensório-motor da prole de ratas alimentadas com uma DRG, em comparação com ratas alimentadas com uma dieta controle, durante a gravidez ou lactação. Foram avaliados indicadores de crescimento corporal, maturação física e ontogênese de reflexos. A prole de ratas alimentadas com DRG mostrou redução de peso e crescimento do corpo, atraso da maturação física e maturação tardia de reflexos fisiológicos, tais como colocação pelas vibrissas, resposta ao susto e reação de aceleração. Nossos resultados sugerem que DRG materna durante a gravidez ou lactação modifica desenvolvimento somático e neurológico da prole, possivelmente aumentando o risco para distúrbios neuroendócrinos e neuropsiquiátricos mais tarde na vida.Palavras-chave: ...

Maternal high-fat diet acts as a stressor increasing maternal glucocorticoids’ signaling to the fetus and disrupting maternal behavior and brain activation in C57BL/6J mice

“…In line with previous studies, we found a decrease in fetal body weight from HFD-dams as assessed at E18, suggesting that HFD feeding might impair the intrauterine growth (Hayes et al, 2012;Mendes-da-Silva et al, 2014). In fact, Jansson and colleagues demonstrated that a reduction in the surface of the transporting epithelium in the HFD placentas might result in a decrease in the nutrient transport, thus reducing fetus weight (Jansson et al, 2006).…”

Maternal high-fat diet influences stroke outcome in adult rat offspring

“…The present study expands on these results by demonstrating that maternal HFD feeding, regarded as a metabolic stress in the early environment, can also substantially influence adult cerebrovascular health. Consistently, maternal HFD consumption also confers susceptibility to mental health and behavioral disorders in offspring, such as depression, anxiety, impairments in social behavior, cognitive deficit, reward-based behaviors and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in later life (Raygada et al 1998, Bilbo & Tsang 2010, Sullivan et al 2011, Giriko et al 2013, Mendes-da-Silva et al 2014. Additionally, we demonstrated that maternal fat-rich diet influences adult depressive disorder response to stressful challenge (Lin et al 2015).…”

The Association between High Fat Diet around Gestation and Metabolic Syndrome-related Phenotypes in Rats: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…59 a SDMlard28PPPFAT, INSWalker C.D. 59 b SDMlard28YAFAT, BW, LEPNaef L. 60 SDMlard28YAFAT, BWKoukkou E. 61 SD na lard47PPPTGMendes-da-Silva C. 62 Wbothlard21YABWTaylor P.D. 63 SDFlard52 na LEPKhan I.Y.…”