Project description:Some previous experimental studies have shown that early in life intake of high-fat or Western-style diets did alter the development of mammary cancer in adulthood female rats. Thus, the present study investigated the distinct gene expression patterns of chemically induced mammary tumors derived from female offspring whose dams intake control diet (CD) or Western-style diet (WD). During gestational days (GD) 12-21 and post-natal days (PND) 1-21, pregnant Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were fed a CD diet or WD (high-fat and low-fiber and oligoelements) diet. On postnatal day (PND) 21, the female offspring received a single dose of carcinogen N-Methyl-N-Nitrosourea (MNU, 50 mg/kg) and CD diet for 12 weeks. Latency, incidence and tumor burden were registered. Mammary tumors samples were collected and histopathology and gene expression analysis were performed.
Project description:Maternal diet is associated with the development of metabolism-related and other non-communicable diseases in offspring. Underlying mechanisms, functional profiles, and molecular markers are only starting to be revealed. Here, we explored the physiological and molecular impact of maternal Western-style diet on the liver of male and female offspring. C57BL/6 dams were exposed to either a low fat/low cholesterol diet (LFD) or a Western-style high fat/high cholesterol diet (WSD) for six weeks before mating, as well as during gestation and lactation. Dams and offspring were sacrificed at postnatal day 14, and body, liver, and blood parameters were assessed. The impact of maternal WSD on the pups' liver gene expression was characterised by whole-transcriptome microarray analysis. Exclusively male offspring had significantly higher body weight upon maternal WSD. In offspring of both sexes of WSD dams, liver and blood parameters, as well as hepatic gene expression profiles were changed. In total, 686 and 604 genes were differentially expressed in liver (pM-bM-^IM-$0.01) of males and females, respectively. Only 10% of these significantly changed genes overlapped in both sexes. In males, in particular alterations of gene expression with respect to developmental functions and processes were observed, such as Wnt/beta-catenin signalling. In females, mainly genes important for lipid metabolism, including cholesterol synthesis, were changed. We conclude that maternal WSD affects physiological parameters and induces substantial changes in the molecular profile of the liver in two-week-old pups. Remarkably, the observed biological responses of the offspring reveal pronounced sex-specificity. C57BL/6 dams were exposed to either a low fat/low cholesterol diet (LFD) or a Western-style high fat/high cholesterol diet (WSD) as six weeks pre-treatment before mating, as well as during gestation and lactation. Offspring were sacrificed at postnatal week two, livers were removed and RNA samples were subjected to gene expression profiling.
Project description:Background & Aims: The influences of the maternal diet during gestation has been suggested to be involved in the development of different aspects of the metabolic syndrome. In our mouse model we characterised the role of maternal western diet in the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in the offspring. Methods: Female mice were fed either a western (W) or low-fat control (L) semi-synthetic diet before and during gestation and lactation. At weaning, male offspring were assigned either the W or the L diet, generating four experimental groups: WW, WL, LW and LL offspring. Biochemical, histological and epigenetic indicators were investigated at 29 weeks of age. Results: Male offspring exposed to prenatal western style diet and to a post-weaning W diet (WW) showed hepatomegaly combined with increased hepatic cholesterol and triglycerides accumulation, compared to LW offspring. This was associated with up-regulation of de novo lipid synthesis and dysregulation of beta oxidation and lipid storage. Elevated hepatic transaminases and increased expression of Tnfa, Cd11, Mcp1 and Tgfb underpin the severity of liver injury. Histological analysis supported the presence of steatohepatitis in the WW offspring. In addition alterations in DNA methylation in key metabolic genes (Ppara, Insig, Fasn) were detected. Conclusion: Maternal dietary fat intake during critical developmental phases programs susceptibility to liver disease in mouse offspring. This was mediated by shifts in lipid metabolism and inflammatory response. Long lasting epigenetic changes may underlie this dysregulation 4 groups of 6 male mouse were analysed , 1 experimental and 1 biological outlier was excluded , so n=6,5,5,6 in the 4 groups (LL,LW,WL,WW)
Project description:Maternal diet is associated with the development of metabolism-related and other non-communicable diseases in offspring. Underlying mechanisms, functional profiles, and molecular markers are only starting to be revealed. Here, we explored the physiological and molecular impact of maternal Western-style diet on the liver of male and female offspring. C57BL/6 dams were exposed to either a low fat/low cholesterol diet (LFD) or a Western-style high fat/high cholesterol diet (WSD) for six weeks before mating, as well as during gestation and lactation. Dams and offspring were sacrificed at postnatal day 14, and body, liver, and blood parameters were assessed. The impact of maternal WSD on the pups' liver gene expression was characterised by whole-transcriptome microarray analysis. Exclusively male offspring had significantly higher body weight upon maternal WSD. In offspring of both sexes of WSD dams, liver and blood parameters, as well as hepatic gene expression profiles were changed. In total, 686 and 604 genes were differentially expressed in liver (p≤0.01) of males and females, respectively. Only 10% of these significantly changed genes overlapped in both sexes. In males, in particular alterations of gene expression with respect to developmental functions and processes were observed, such as Wnt/beta-catenin signalling. In females, mainly genes important for lipid metabolism, including cholesterol synthesis, were changed. We conclude that maternal WSD affects physiological parameters and induces substantial changes in the molecular profile of the liver in two-week-old pups. Remarkably, the observed biological responses of the offspring reveal pronounced sex-specificity.
Project description:Maternal exposures during pregnancy influence the risk of many chronic adult-onset diseases in the offspring. We investigated whether feeding pregnant rats a high fat (HF) or ethinyl-estradiol (EE2)-supplemented diet affects carcinogen-induced mammary cancer risk in daughters, granddaughters and great-granddaughters. Here we show that mammary tumorigenesis is higher in daughters and granddaughters of HF rat dams and in daughters, granddaughters and great-granddaughters of EE2 rat dams. Outcross experiments indicate that increased mammary cancer risk is transmitted to HF granddaughters equally through the female or male germlines, but it is only transmitted to EE2 granddaughters through the female germline. The effects of maternal EE2 exposure on offspring's mammary cancer risk are associated with alternations in the DNA methylation machinery and methylation patterns in mammary tissue of all three EE2 generations. We conclude that dietary and estrogenic exposures in pregnancy increase breast cancer risk in multiple generations of offspring, possibly through non-genetic means We examined the whole genome methylation status of both control and EE2-supplemented diet rats in three consecutive generations
Project description:Background & Aims: The influences of the maternal diet during gestation has been suggested to be involved in the development of different aspects of the metabolic syndrome. In our mouse model we characterised the role of maternal western diet in the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in the offspring. Methods: Female mice were fed either a western (W) or low-fat control (L) semi-synthetic diet before and during gestation and lactation. At weaning, male offspring were assigned either the W or the L diet, generating four experimental groups: WW, WL, LW and LL offspring. Biochemical, histological and epigenetic indicators were investigated at 29 weeks of age. Results: Male offspring exposed to prenatal western style diet and to a post-weaning W diet (WW) showed hepatomegaly combined with increased hepatic cholesterol and triglycerides accumulation, compared to LW offspring. This was associated with up-regulation of de novo lipid synthesis and dysregulation of beta oxidation and lipid storage. Elevated hepatic transaminases and increased expression of Tnfa, Cd11, Mcp1 and Tgfb underpin the severity of liver injury. Histological analysis supported the presence of steatohepatitis in the WW offspring. In addition alterations in DNA methylation in key metabolic genes (Ppara, Insig, Fasn) were detected. Conclusion: Maternal dietary fat intake during critical developmental phases programs susceptibility to liver disease in mouse offspring. This was mediated by shifts in lipid metabolism and inflammatory response. Long lasting epigenetic changes may underlie this dysregulation
Project description:During the last few decades, the long-lasting consequences of nutritional programming during the early phase of life have become increasingly evident, but the effects of maternal nutrition on the developing intestine are currently still relatively underexplored. In this study, we investigated in mice the effects of a maternal Western-style (WS) high fat/cholesterol diet, given during the perinatal period, on gene expression and microbiota composition of two-week-old offspring. Microarray analysis revealed that a perinatal WS diet caused significant changes in gene expression in the small intestine and colon of the suckling offspring. A strong sexually dimorphic effect was observed in the affected genes. However, pathway analysis of the differentially expressed genes displayed that in both sexes metabolic and immune functions were strongly affected. Integration of the microbiota and gene expression data applying a multivariate correlation analyses revealed that Bacteroidaceae, Porphyromonadaceae and Lachnospiraceae were the bacterial families that most strongly correlated with gene expression in the colon and not with the bacterial families displaying the most pronounced change due to perinatal exposure to a WS diet. Amongst the genes demonstrating a strong correlation with one or more bacterial families were genes of key importance for intestinal development or functioning (i.e., Pitx2 and Ace2). In conclusion, our data demonstrate a strong programming effect of a maternal WS diet on the development of the intestine in the offspring. Small intestine and colon were isolated from two-week-old pups of dams fed a low- or Western-style high fat/cholesterol diet and subjected to gene expression profiling.
Project description:Maternal overnutrition increases inflammatory and metabolic disease risk in postnatal offspring. This constitutes a major public health concern due to the increasing prevalence of these diseases yet the mechanisms remain unclear. Here, using nonhuman primate models, we show that maternal Western-style diet (mWSD) exposure is associated with persistent pro-inflammatory phenotypes at the transcriptional, metabolic, and functional levels in bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) from 3-year-old juvenile offspring and in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) from fetal and juvenile bone marrow and fetal liver. mWSD exposure is also associated with increased oleic acid in fetal and juvenile bone marrow and fetal liver. ATAC-seq profiling of HSPCs and BMDMs from mWSD-exposed juveniles supports a model in which HSPCs transmit pro-inflammatory memory to myeloid cells beginning in utero. These findings demonstrate that maternal diet alters long-term immune cell developmental programming in HSPCs with proposed consequences for chronic diseases featuring altered immune/inflammatory activation across the lifespan.
Project description:Maternal exposures during pregnancy influence the risk of many chronic adult-onset diseases in the offspring. We investigated whether feeding pregnant rats a high fat (HF) or ethinyl-estradiol (EE2)-supplemented diet affects carcinogen-induced mammary cancer risk in daughters, granddaughters and great-granddaughters. Here we show that mammary tumorigenesis is higher in daughters and granddaughters of HF rat dams and in daughters, granddaughters and great-granddaughters of EE2 rat dams. Outcross experiments indicate that increased mammary cancer risk is transmitted to HF granddaughters equally through the female or male germlines, but it is only transmitted to EE2 granddaughters through the female germline. The effects of maternal EE2 exposure on offspring's mammary cancer risk are associated with alternations in the DNA methylation machinery and methylation patterns in mammary tissue of all three EE2 generations. We conclude that dietary and estrogenic exposures in pregnancy increase breast cancer risk in multiple generations of offspring, possibly through non-genetic means
Project description:Maternal obesity can program metabolic syndrome in offspring but the mechanisms are not well characterized. Moreover, the consequences of maternal overnutrition in the absence of frank obesity remain poorly understood. This study aimed to determine the effects of maternal consumption of a high fat-sucrose diet on the skeletal muscle metabolic and transcriptional profiles of adult offspring. Female Sprague Dawley rats were fed either a diet rich in saturated fat and sucrose (HFD, 23.5% fat, 20% sucrose wt/wt) or a standard chow diet (NFD, 7% fat, 10% sucrose w/w) for the 3 weeks prior to mating and throughout pregnancy and lactation. Although maternal weights were not different between groups at conception or weaning, HFD dams were ~22% heavier than chow fed dams from mid-pregnancy until 4 days post-partum. Adult male offspring of HFD dams were not heavier than controls but demonstrated features of insulin resistance including elevated plasma insulin concentration (+40%, P<0.05). Next Generation mRNA Sequencing was used to identify differentially expressed genes in the soleus muscle of offspring, and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) to detect coordinated changes that are characteristic of a biological function. GSEA identified 15 pathways enriched for up-regulated genes, including cytokine signaling (P<0.005), starch and sucrose metabolism (P<0.017), and inflammatory response (P<0.024). A further 8 pathways were significantly enriched for down-regulated genes including oxidative phosphorylation (P<0.004) and electron transport (P<0.022). Western blots confirmed a ~60% reduction in the phosphorylation of the insulin signaling protein Akt (P<0.05) and ~70% reduction in mitochondrial complexes II (P<0.05) and V expression (P<0.05). On a normal diet, offspring of HFD dams developed an insulin resistant phenotype, with transcriptional evidence of muscle cytokine activation, inflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction. These data indicate that maternal overnutrition, even in the absence of pre-pregnancy obesity can promote metabolic dysregulation and predispose offspring to type 2 diabetes. Messenger RNA profile of skeletal muscle of male offspring from female Sprague Dawley rats fed either a diet rich in saturated fat and sucrose (HFD, 23.5% fat, 20% sucrose wt/wt) or a standard chow diet (NFD, 7% fat, 10% sucrose w/w) for the 3 weeks prior to mating and throughout pregnancy and lactation. There were 5 HFD samples compared to 6 NFD control samples.