Maternal high-fat diet intensifies the metabolic response to stress in male rat offspring (original) (raw)

Maternal high fat diet programs hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal function in adult rat offspring

Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2018

Maternal environmental factors such as diet have profound effects on offspring development and later health. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is an important stress neuroendocrine system that is subject to programming by early life challenges. The present study was further to investigate whether maternal high fat diet (HFD) exposure during rat pregnancy and lactation can alter the HPA axis activity in adult male offspring. We observed that maternal HFD consumption exerted long-term effects on the basal activity of the HPA axis in adult offspring, with increased mean plasma corticosterone levels that result from elevated steroid pulse frequence and pulse amplitude. More importantly, maternal HFD offspring displayed enhanced corticosterone responses to restraint (1 h) and lipopolysaccharide (25 μg/kg, iv) but not insulin-induced hypoglycemia (0.3U/ kg, iv) stress, suggesting a stressor-specific effect of maternal diet on the hyperresponsiveness of the HPA axis to stress. Additionally, maternal HFD exposure markedly attenuated the habituation of HPA responses to repeated restraint stress. These findings demonstrate that perinatal HFD exposure has a potent and long-lasting influence on development of neuroendocrine regulatory mechanisms. Maternal HFD consumption significantly increased basal corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) mRNA expression in the paraventricular nucleus; nevertheless, similar increments in CRF mRNA levels following restraint were observed between maternal HFD offspring and control rats. Furthermore, the medial and central nuclei of amygdala played a pivotal role in maternal HFD-induced sensitization of the HPA response to psychological and systemic stress, respectively, suggesting that different neural pathways may mediate maternal HFD-induced HPA hyperresponsivity to different types of stressors. Take together, the long-term effects of maternal HFD challenge on the central regulation of the HPA axis, therefore, expose the adult offspring to greater HPA function throughout lifespan, in stressor-specific and region-specific manner.

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

Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2015

Maternal diet during pregnancy can impact maternal behavior as well as the intrauterine environment, playing a critical role in programming offspring's physiology. In a preliminary study, we found a strong association between high-fat diet (HFD) during pregnancy and increased cannibalistic episodes and dams' mortality during late pregnancy and parturition. Based upon these data, we hypothesized that HFD during pregnancy could negatively affect neuroendocrine and metabolic regulations occurring during the final stages of pregnancy, thereby disrupting maternal behavior. To test this hypothesis, female C57BL/6J mice were fed HFD or control diet for 11 weeks until three days before the expected delivery date. Basal corticosterone plasma levels and brain levels of c-Fos were measured both before and after delivery, in addition to leptin levels in the adipose tissue. Dam's emotional behavior and social anxiety,

Maternal and postweaning diet interaction alters hypothalamic gene expression and modulates response to a high-fat diet in male offspring

AJP: Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 2009

Epidemiological data and results from animal studies indicate that imbalances in maternal nutrition impact the expression of metabolic disorders in the offspring. We tested the hypothesis that consumption of excess saturated fats during pregnancy and lactation contributes to adult metabolic dysfunction and that these disturbances can be further influenced by the postweaning diet. Adult male offspring from chow-fed dams were compared with males from dams fed a diet high in saturated fat (45 kcal/100 kcal) before mating, pregnancy, and lactation. Offspring were weaned to a standard chow diet or high fat diet. Animals were killed at 120 days after a 24-h fast. Body weight, energy intake, fat deposition, serum leptin, and insulin were significantly higher in offspring from control or high-fat dams if fed a high-fat diet from weaning to adulthood. Only fat-fed offspring from fat-fed dams were hyperglycemic. Leptin receptor, proopiomelanocortin, and neuropeptide Y (NPY) were also signific...

Prenatal Stress or High-Fat Diet Increases Susceptibility to Diet-Induced Obesity in Rat Offspring

Diabetes, 2009

OBJECTIVE Perturbations to the prenatal environment have been associated with the development of adult chronic disease, findings that gave rise to the “Barker Hypothesis” or the “developmental origins of adult disease” concept. In this study, we used an animal model to determine the metabolic consequences of maternal prenatal stress and high-fat feeding on the developing offspring. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Pregnant female Sprague-Dawley rats were maintained on standard chow or 60% high-fat diet throughout gestation and lactation. Half of each group were exposed to a novel variable stress paradigm during the 3rd week of gestation, whereas control dams were left undisturbed. Body weight, body composition, glucose tolerance, and endocrine parameters were measured in offspring through early adulthood. RESULTS Male and female pups from dams that experienced prenatal stress and/or were on a high-fat diet weighed more beginning on postnatal day 7 compared with standard chow–control pups...

Maternal high-fat diet induces obesity and adrenal and thyroid dysfunction in male rat offspring at weaning

The Journal of Physiology, 2012

Perinatal maternal high-fat diet changes milk composition, resulting in obesity and hyperglycaemia in male offspring at weaning. • Offspring obesity is associated with hyperleptinaemia and changes in the central leptin signalling pathway in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus. • Maternal high-fat diet increased adrenal catecholamines in offspring but reduced liver and adipose tissue adrenoreceptors, thereby contributing to increased adiposity in these animals. • Early obesity and hyperleptinaemia in offspring may have a stimulatory effect on the hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroid axis as an adaptive response to the positive energy balance. • Both catecholamines and thyroid hormones may impact cardiovascular function, thereby contributing to the development of hypertension.

Differential effects of prenatal stress on metabolic programming in diet-induced obese and dietary-resistant rats

American journal of physiology. Endocrinology and metabolism, 2015

Stress during pregnancy is a known contributing factor for the development of obesity in the offspring. Since maternal obesity is on the rise, we wanted to identify the effects of prenatal stress in the offspring of diet-induced obese (DIO) rats and compare them with the offspring of dietary-resistant (DR) rats. We hypothesized that prenatal stress would make both DIO and DR offspring susceptible to obesity, but the effect would be more pronounced in DIO rats. Pregnant DIO and DR rats were divided into two groups: nonstressed controls (control) and prenatal stress (subjected to restraint stress, three times/day from days 14 to 21 of gestation). After recording birth weight and weaning weight, male offspring were weaned onto a chow diet for 9 wk and shifted to a high-fat (HF) diet for 1 wk. At the end of the 10th wk the animals were euthanized, and visceral adipose mass, blood glucose, serum insulin, and C-peptide levels were measured. Prenatal stress resulted in hyperinsulinemia and...

Maternal Deprivation Exacerbates the Response to a High Fat Diet in a Sexually Dimorphic Manner

PLoS ONE, 2012

Maternal deprivation (MD) during neonatal life has diverse long-term effects, including affectation of metabolism. Indeed, MD for 24 hours during the neonatal period reduces body weight throughout life when the animals are maintained on a normal diet. However, little information is available regarding how this early stress affects the response to increased metabolic challenges during postnatal life. We hypothesized that MD modifies the response to a high fat diet (HFD) and that this response differs between males and females. To address this question, both male and female Wistar rats were maternally deprived for 24 hours starting on the morning of postnatal day (PND) 9. Upon weaning on PND22 half of each group received a control diet (CD) and the other half HFD. MD rats of both sexes had significantly reduced accumulated food intake and weight gain compared to controls when raised on the CD. In contrast, when maintained on a HFD energy intake and weight gain did not differ between control and MD rats of either sex. However, high fat intake induced hyperleptinemia in MD rats as early as PND35, but not until PND85 in control males and control females did not become hyperleptinemic on the HFD even at PND102. High fat intake stimulated hypothalamic inflammatory markers in both male and female rats that had been exposed to MD, but not in controls. Reduced insulin sensitivity was observed only in MD males on the HFD. These results indicate that MD modifies the metabolic response to HFD intake, with this response being different between males and females. Thus, the development of obesity and secondary complications in response to high fat intake depends on numerous factors.

Prenatal stress programming of offspring feeding behavior and energy balance begins early in pregnancy

Physiology & behavior, 2009

To examine the long-term effects of stress experienced early in gestation on the programming of offspring feeding behaviors and energy balance, pregnant mice were exposed to stress during early pregnancy (days 1-7) and adult offspring examined on chow and high fat diets for long-term outcomes. Placental 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (11 beta-HSD2) and insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF-2) expression was measured to determine the possible sex-specific contribution of prenatal stress (PNS) on fetal programming of embryo growth and development during early pregnancy. PNS mice showed a basal hyperphagia when on chow diet. Prenatal treatment differences were ameliorated when adult mice were on a high fat diet. Interestingly, PNS male mice also had significantly reduced body weights compared to control males on both chow and high fat diets. Body composition analyses revealed reduced body fat and increased lean mass in PNS mice on the high fat diet, but no differences were det...

Glucose-stimulated insulin secretion: Effects of high-fat diet and acute stress

2013

This study investigated the effects of high-fat diet on metabolic factors in the presence of acute foot-shock and psychological stresses in male Wistar rats. The animals were divided into high-fat (45 % cow intra-abdominal fat) and normal (standard pellets) diet groups; then, each group was allocated into stressed and control groups. Stress was induced by a communication box. Blood samples were collected by retro-orbital-puncture method under isoflurane anesthesia. Plasma levels of glucose, insulin, triglyceride, cholesterol, free fatty acid and corticosterone were measured. Water and food intake significantly decreased in high-fat diet group; however, their weight did not change compared with the normal diet group. The level of fasting plasma glucose in the high-fat diet group decreased whereas, the fasting plasma insulin level did not significantly change. Stress increased the plasma glucose level 15 minutes after oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in both diet subgroups. The concentration of plasma insulin increased after stress induction in fasting and 15 minutes after performing OGTT. The increase in the plasma level of corticosterone was significant in both diet subgroups of only the foot-shock stress group. Plasma level of cholesterol and triglyceride in the high-fat diet group significantly increased; however, foot-shock stress decreased only triglyceride concentration. Plasma level of the fatty acids did not change in any of the groups. Statistical analysis showed no significant interaction between high-fat diet and stress. As a whole, the results showed that the high-fat diet used in the present study did not noticeably affect metabolic parameters even in the presence of acute stress.

Maternal stress induced endoplasmic reticulum stress and impaired pancreatic islets' insulin secretion via glucocorticoid receptor upregulation in adult male rat offspring

springer nature, 2022

Exposure to perinatal (prenatal and/or postnatal) stress is considered as a risk factor for metabolic disorders in later life. Accordingly, this study aimed to investigate the perinatal stress effects on the pancreatic endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress induction, insulin secretion impairment and WFS1 (wolframin ER transmembrane Glycoprotein, which is involved in ER homeostasis and insulin secretion) expression changes, in rat offspring. According to the dams' period of exposure to variable stress, their male offspring were divided into, control (CTRL); pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, lactation stress (PPPLS); pre-pregnancy stress (PPS); pregnancy stress (PS); lactation stress (LS); prepregnancy, pregnancy stress (PPPS); pregnancy, lactation stress (PLS); pre-pregnancy, lactation stress (PPLS) groups. Offspring pancreases were removed for ER extraction and the assessment of ER stress biomarkers, WFS1 gene DNA methylation, and isolated islets' insulin secretion. Glucose tolerance was also tested. In the stressed groups, maternal stress significantly increased plasma corticosterone levels. In PPS, PS, and PPPS groups, maternal stress increased Bip (Hsp70; heat shock protein family A member 4), Chop (Ddit3; DNA-damage inducible transcript3), and WFS1 protein levels in pancreatic extracted ER. Moreover, the islets' insulin secretion and content along with glucose tolerance were impaired in these groups. In PPS, PS, LS and PPPS groups, the pancreatic glucocorticoid receptor (GR) expression increased. Maternal stress did not affect pancreatic WFS1 DNA methylation. Thus, maternal stress, during prenatal period, impaired the islets' insulin secretion and glucose homeostasis in adult male offspring, possibly through the induction of ER stress and GR expression in the pancreas, in this regard the role of WFS1 protein alteration in pancreatic ER should also be considered.