Maternal high-fat diet during lactation impairs thermogenic function of brown adipose tissue in offspring mice

Maternal obesity and high-fat diet (HFD) predisposes offspring to obesity and metabolic diseases. Due to uncoupling, brown adipose tissue (BAT) dissipates energy via heat generation, mitigating obesity and diabetes. The lactation stage is a manageable period for improving the health of offspring of obese mothers, but the impact of maternal HFD during lactation on offspring BAT function is unknown. To determine, female mice were fed either a control or HFD during lactation. At weaning, HFD offspring gained more body weight and had greater body fat mass compared to the control, and these differences maintained into adulthood, which correlated with glucose intolerance and insulin resistance in HFD offspring. Adaptive thermogenesis of BAT was impaired in HFD offspring at weaning. In adulthood, HFD offspring BAT had lower Ucp1 expression and thermogenic activity. Mechanistically, maternal HFD feeding during lactation elevated peripheral serotonin, which decreased the sensitivity of BAT to sympathetic β3-adrenergic signaling. Importantly, early postnatal metformin administration decreased serotonin concentration and ameliorated the impairment of offspring BAT due to maternal HFD. Our data suggest that attenuation of BAT thermogenic function may be a key mechanism linking maternal HFD during lactation to persisted metabolic disorder in the offspring.