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Updated: Apr 29, 2026

Author Spotlight: Studying the Impact of Maternal Dietary Deficiencies on Long-Term Offspring Health Outcomes
Published on: June 28, 2024
Enhancing hepatic fatty acid oxidation as a strategy for reversing metabolic disorders programmed by maternal
Juana María Torrens1, Josep M Orellana-Gavaldà, Mariona Palou
1Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Nutrition, and Biotechnology (Nutrigenomics), University of the Balearic Islands and CIBER Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBEROBN), Palma de Mallorca, Balearic Islands.
Background/Aims:
Moderate maternal calorie-restriction during gestation programmes offspring for a major propensity to develop metabolic alterations in adulthood. We aimed to assess whether increased hepatic fatty-acid oxidation (FAO), at early ages, by gene transfer of Cpt1am (active mutant of carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1a), may be a strategy for reversing metabolic disturbances associated to maternal calorie-restriction during gestation in rats.
Methods:
AAV-Gfp (control) and AAV-Cpt1am vectors were administered by tail vein injection in 18-day-old control-pups and the offspring of 20% calorie-restricted rats during gestation (CR). After weaning, animals were fed with normal-fat diet. At the age of 4 months, they were moved to HF-diet and sacrificed at the age of 6 months to collect tissues. Locomotive activity, energy expenditure and blood pressure were measured.
Results:
Under HF-diet, CR-animals showed higher HOMA-IR, adipocyte diameter and hepatic triglyceride accumulation than controls; these alterations were reverted in Cpt1am-injected animals. In liver, this treatment ameliorated inflammatory state, decreased expression of lipogenesis-related genes and partially restored the decreased expression of leptin-receptor occurring in CR-animals. Treatment also reverted the decreased energy expenditure and the increased blood pressure of CR-animals.
Conclusion:
Increasing hepatic FAO through AAV-Cpt1am injection at juvenile ages prevents some metabolic disorders associated to gestational maternal calorie-restriction.
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