Maternal High-Fat Feeding Affects the Liver and Thymus Metabolic Axis in the Offspring and Some Effects Are Attenuated by Maternal Diet Normalization in a Minipig Model

Abstract

Maternal high-fat diet (HFD) affects metabolic and immune development. We aimed to characterize the effects of maternal HFD, and the subsequent diet-normalization of the mothers during a second pregnancy, on the liver and thymus metabolism in their offspring, in minipigs. Offspring born to high-fat (HFD) and normal diet (ND) fed mothers were studied at week 1 and months 1, 6, 12 of life. Liver and thymus glucose uptake (GU) was measured with positron emission tomography during hyperinsulinemic-isoglycemia. Histological analyses were performed to quantify liver steatosis, inflammation, and hepatic hematopoietic niches (HHN), and thymocyte size and density in a subset. The protocol was repeated after maternal-diet-normalization in the HFD group. At one week, HFDoff were characterized by hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, severe insulin resistance (IR), and high liver and thymus GU, associating with thymocyte size and density, with elevated weight-gain, liver IR, and steatosis in the first 6 months of life. Maternal diet normalization reversed thymus and liver hypermetabolism, and increased HHN at one week. It also normalized systemic insulin-sensitivity and liver fat content at all ages. Instead, weight-gain excess, hyperglycemia, and hepatic IR were still observed at 1 month, i.e., end-lactation. We conclude that intra-uterine HFD exposure leads to time-changing metabolic and immune-correlated abnormalities. Maternal diet-normalization reversed most of the effects in the offspring.

The Effect of Maternal Exposure to a Diet High in Fats and Cholesterol on the Placental Function and Phenotype of the Offspring in a Rabbit Model: A Summary Review of About 15 Years of Research

“…Male (but not female) offspring from mothers fed the high-caloric obesity-inducing diet with casein protein demonstrated hyperphagia, obesity, dyslipidemia and hepatic triglyceride accumulation as adults compared with their controls in Sprague Dawley rats [74]. Offspring born from high-fat-fed mini-pig mothers were characterized, at one week, by hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, severe insulin resistance and high liver and thymus glucose uptake, associated with thymocyte size and density, elevated weight gain, liver insulin resistance and steatosis in the first 6 months of life [75].…”