Maternal diet disrupts the placenta-brain axis in a sex-specific manner.

ABSTRACT: High maternal weight is associated with detrimental outcomes in offspring, including increased susceptibility to neurological disorders such as anxiety, depression and communicative disorders. Despite widespread acknowledgement of sex biases in the development of these disorders, few studies have investigated potential sex-biased mechanisms underlying disorder susceptibility. Here, we show that a maternal high-fat diet causes endotoxin accumulation in fetal tissue, and subsequent perinatal inflammation contributes to sex-specific behavioural outcomes in offspring. In male offspring exposed to a maternal high-fat diet, increased macrophage Toll-like receptor 4 signalling results in excess microglial phagocytosis of serotonin (5-HT) neurons in the developing dorsal raphe nucleus, decreasing

SUBMITTER: Ceasrine AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10507630 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature