Maternal dietary imbalance between omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids triggers the offspring's overeating in mice.

ABSTRACT: The increasing prevalence of obesity and its effects on our society warrant intensifying basic animal research for understanding why habitual intake of highly palatable foods has increased due to recent global environmental changes. Here, we report that pregnant mice that consume a diet high in omega-6 (n-6) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and low in omega-3 (n-3) PUFAs (an n-6^high/n-3^low diet), whose n-6/n-3 ratio is approximately 120, induces hedonic consumption in the offspring by upregulating the midbrain dopaminergic system. We found that exposure to the n-6^high/n-3^low diet specifically increases the consumption of palatable foods via increased mesolimbic dopamine release. In addition, neurodevelopmental analyses revealed that this induc

SUBMITTER: Sakayori N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7455742 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature