Effects of Maternal High-fat Diet on Serum Lipid Concentration and Expression of Peroxisomal Proliferator-activated Receptors in the Early Life of Rat Offspring

Abstract

Peroxisomal proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) play an important role in the regulation of lipid metabolism. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a maternal high-fat (HF) diet on serum lipid concentration and PPAR gene expression in liver and adipose tissue in the early life of the rat offspring. Female Sprague-Dawley rats were fed either an HF or control (CON) diet 6 weeks before mating and throughout gestation and lactation. Blood and tissue samplings of male offspring were carried out at birth or weaning. Birth weights were similar and serum triglyceride (TG) and nonesterified fatty acid (NEFA) levels showed no significant difference between HF and CON newborns, despite greatly increased hepatic PPARα mRNA expression in the HF newborns (p<0.05). Both HF newborns and weanlings revealed significantly decreased hepatic PPARγ expression compared with controls (p<0.0001). Hepatic PPARα expression in the HF weanlings was reduced markedly compared with CON weanlings (p<0.0001) and showed a negative correlation with serum TG levels (r=-0.743, p<0.05). However, epididymal expression of PPARγ in the HF weanlings was upregulated significantly compared with controls (p<0.05) and demonstrated a positive correlation with epididymal fat mass (r=0.733, p<0.05). These were accompanied by obesity as well as a rise in serum TG by 79% (p<0.05) and NEFA concentration by 36% (p<0.05) in these HF weanlings. Our findings suggest that maternal HF diet leads to alterations in PPAR gene expression in the weanling offspring, which is associated with the disturbed lipid homeostasis.

Paternally Induced Transgenerational Environmental Reprogramming of Metabolic Gene Expression in Mammals

“…Interestingly, Ppara expression in liver is also regulated by maternal diet – offspring of female mice consuming a high fat diet exhibit altered hepatic Ppara expression, with increased expression at birth but decreased expression at weaning (Yamaguchi et al, 2010). Together with our data, these results suggest that Ppara is a key nexus that integrates ancestral dietary information to control offspring metabolism.…”

Transgenerational Inheritance of Paternal Neurobehavioral Phenotypes: Stress, Addiction, Ageing and Metabolism

“…The F1 generation exhibited elevated expressions of multiple genes related to lipid and cholesterol metabolism, which might result from the increased methylation (therefore decreased expression) of the key lipid regulator gene-Ppara in F1 F1 offsprings, although the involvement of other epigenetic information carriers like RNA and chromatin could not be excluded [96]. Interestingly, the Ppara expression was also affected by the maternal diet-high-fat maternal diet led to increased Ppara expression at birth and decreased expression at weaning [97]. How the different body metabolism states could selectively affect the epigenome in sperm or ova is yet to be studied.…”

Quand l’environnement du père influence l’expression génique chez l’enfant

“…Il est important de noter que l'expression de Ppara dans le foie semble également dépendre de l'alimentation de la mère étant donné que les descendants de souris femelles alimentées avec une nourriture riche en graisse présentent une altération de l'expression hépatique de ce gène [11]. Ces travaux, et les nôtres, suggèrent que Ppara pourrait être un régulateur central intégrant des informations alimentaires ancestrales afin de contrôler le métabolisme chez la descendance.…”