Effects of High-Fat Diet and Exercise Intervention on the Metabolism Regulation of Infant Mice

Abstract

Maternal exercise is crucial for promoting the health of the offspring. Previous studies showed that long-term maternal exercise improves energy metabolism during pregnancy. Whether swimming exercise can reverse the metabolic disorders caused by high-fat exposure in the early life of the offspring is yet to be elucidated. Three-week-old C57BL/6 female mice were randomly assigned to the standard chow diet group (SC), standard chow diet and exercise group (SC-Ex), high-fat diet group (HFD), and high-fat diet and exercise group (HFD-Ex). After swimming intervention for 13 weeks, male and female mice were caged, and the exercise intervention lasted until delivery. Then, the mothers were fed standard chow diet. A total of 8 offsprings/group were randomly selected after 4 weeks of lactation for GTT and ITT. After body composition analysis, the mice were sacrificed to obtain specimens. The levels of metabolism factors and IL-6 were measured by suspension microarray. Subsequently, 15 min after starting the GTT and ITT, the curve detected significant difference between the HFD and other groups. The body fat percentage of the HFD-Ex offspring was significantly lower than that of HFD offspring (p<0.05) irrespective of the gender. The levels of IL-6 and TG in the male offspring in the HFD-Ex group were improved significantly (p<0.05). Compared to the HFD offspring, serum glucose and GIP in the female offspring in the HFD-Ex group was significantly reduced (p<0.05). Long-term exercise of the mother effectively improved the metabolic disorder caused by high-fat exposure in the infant offspring. Thus, the metabolic inheritance of the offspring is gender-dependent; the maternal metabolism can make male offspring genetically susceptible.

Maternal Obesity: A Focus on Maternal Interventions to Improve Health of Offspring

“…These studies are based on the “developmental overnutrition hypothesis” that explains the association between mother and child's obesity. According to Armitage et al ( 29 ), higher circulating levels of glucose, free fatty acids (FFA), amino acids, ( 29 ) fetal insulin ( 16 ), and digestive hormones ( 33 ) in the mother cause a permanent alteration of appetite control and energy metabolism in the fetus. Further, this is transferred to the next generation through inheritance.…”

“…In a separate study in infant mice, the protective effect of maternal aquatic exercise from an obesogenic diet was assessed ( 33 ). Three-week-old maternal mice were put on either a CD (12% fat) or HFD (45% fat) and subsequently divided into CD-sedentary (CD-sed), CD-exercise, HFD-sedentary, and HFD-exercise for 13 weeks before conception and for the entire length of gestation.…”

Treadmill Exercise during Pregnancy Decreased Vulnerability to Neonatal Hypoxia-Ischemia through Reducing Inflammation and Increasing Antiapoptotic Gene Expressions and Antioxidant Capacity in Rats

“…Aparicio et al showed that exercise during pregnancy reduces the release of proinflammatory cytokines such as TNF- α , IL-8, and IL-6 in colostrum and mature human milk [ 16 ]. Zhu et al demonstrated that maternal exercise reduced the expression inflammatory factors in the male offspring mice [ 17 ].…”

Programming by maternal obesity: a pathway to poor cardiometabolic health in the offspring

“…Most studies of maternal exercise intervention in obese pregnancy have been carried out in rodent models. Although there is some variation in the nature of the intervention with different studies utilising voluntary or involuntary wheel running (48,(222)(223)(224)(225)(226)(227)(228)(229)(230) , treadmill running (128,(231)(232)(233)(234)(235) or swimming (236) , some consistent patterns have emerged in terms of maternal and offspring outcomes.…”

“…In the offspring, the elevated blood glucose and insulin levels seen in both male and female offspring of obese rodent dams can be improved in the pup (223) and adult offspring (48,222,(225)(226)(227)(228)231,234,236) by exercise intervention during pregnancy. Maternal exercise intervention is also protective against other adverse effects of maternal obesity in rats and mice, including preventing increased adiposity (225,234,236) , cognitive impairment (229) , dysregulation of hypothalamic gene expression (48) , hepatic dysfunction and insulin resistance (226) , epigenetic and transcriptional changes in skeletal muscle leading to impaired muscle oxidative capacity (223,227,228) , increased inflammation (48) and β-cell dysfunction (230) . However, few studies have specifically investigated the effects of exercise intervention in obese pregnancy on offspring cardiovascular function (128) .…”