Exercise during pregnancy and its impact on mothers and offspring in humans and mice

Abstract

Exercise during pregnancy has beneficial effects on maternal and offspring's health in humans and mice. The underlying mechanisms remain unclear. This comparative study aimed to determine the long-term effects of an exercise program on metabolism, weight gain, body composition and changes in hormones [insulin, leptin, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)]. Pregnant women (n=34) and mouse dams (n=44) were subjected to an exercise program compared with matched controls (period I). Follow-up in the offspring was performed over 6 months in humans, corresponding to postnatal day (P) 21 in mice (period II). Half of the mouse offspring was challenged with a high-fat diet (HFD) for 6 weeks between P70 and P112 (period III). In period I, exercise during pregnancy led to 6% lower fat content, 40% lower leptin levels and an increase of 50% BDNF levels in humans compared with controls, which was not observed in mice. After period II in humans and mice, offspring body weight did not differ from that of the controls. Further differences were observed in period III. Offspring of exercising mouse dams had significantly lower fat mass and leptin levels compared with controls. In addition, at P112, BDNF levels in offspring were significantly higher from exercising mothers while this effect was completely blunted by HFD feeding. In this study, we found comparable effects on maternal and offspring's weight gain in humans and mice but different effects in insulin, leptin and BDNF. The long-term potential protective effects of exercise on biomarkers should be examined in human studies.

Metabolic Health—The Role of Adipo-Myokines

“…However, with regard to long-term effects, the offspring of exercising mouse dams had significantly lower fat mass and leptin levels than controls. Furthermore, serum BDNF levels were elevated three-fold in the exercise offspring group compared with control [109]. In summary, this shows that lifestyle factors, especially regular physical activity, can shape the metabolic profile of children in the long term.…”

“…In a comparative study, we analyzed the long-term effects of an exercise program during pregnancy on metabolism, weight gain, body composition, and changes in leptin and BDNF [109]. Human and animal models were synchronized according to study design, age, and serum parameters.…”

Maternal physical activity-induced adaptive transcriptional response in brain and placenta of mothers and rat offspring

“…Human and animal studies have shown that environmental stimuli, such as maternal physical activity, influence the brain development and function of both mother and offspring. [1][2][3] In humans, infants from active mothers during pregnancy (three times per week, at least 20 min/day at 55% of their maximal aerobic capacity) showed a better response to sound discrimination and auditory memory as measured by electroencephalography. 2 In rats, young pups born from dams which were active throughout pregnancy showed an increased amount of neuronal and non-neuronal cells in the hippocampus, improved cognitive functions (habituation behaviour and spatial learning) and enhanced memory as tested using a novel object recognition paradigm.…”

“…Accordingly, a recent study has demonstrated that exercise during pregnancy did not change BDNF levels in brain of mice offspring at 21 days old. 3 Absence of gene expression modulation in the foetus' brains could be related to technical difficulties, as the whole brain, and not specific regions, were analysed, due to the foetus' brain small size. Alternatively, it is possible that the underlying mechanism to improve neuroplasticity in foetus from exercised mothers possibly is not related to changes in neurotrophic gene expression.…”

Health promotion in children and adolescents – a global challenge

“…12 The importance of a public health approach is underlined by the growing knowledge of gene-environment interaction, respectively epigenetics providing the key to transform the genetic information into phenotype over generations. 13 Therefore effective health promotion should involve all actors from different sectors:…”