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Maternal Fructose Intake Exacerbates Cardiac Remodeling in Offspring with Ventricular Pressure Overload

Steve Leu1,2, Kay L H Wu1, Wei-Chia Lee3

  • 1Institute for Translational Research in Biomedicine, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung 833401, Taiwan.

Nutrients
|September 28, 2021
PubMed

Insights

Excessive maternal fructose intake during pregnancy and lactation exacerbates cardiac remodeling in offspring subjected to pressure overload. This developmental programming increases fibrosis and oxidative stress, impacting cardiac gene expression.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiovascular Physiology
  • Developmental Programming
  • Nutritional Science

Background:

  • Metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular diseases can arise from developmental programming influenced by prenatal stress.
  • Maternal nutrition during critical developmental periods significantly impacts offspring health outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of excessive maternal fructose exposure during pregnancy and lactation on cardiac development and pressure overload-induced cardiac hypertrophy in rat offspring.

Main Methods:

  • A rat model was used, with maternal fructose exposure during gestation and lactation.
  • Offspring underwent transverse aortic constriction (TAC) at 3 months to induce cardiac pressure overload.
  • Echocardiography, histopathology, and molecular analyses (NGS, RT-PCR) were performed post-TAC.

Main Results:

  • Maternal fructose exposure (MFE) increased heart weight and cardiac wall thickness in TAC offspring.
  • MFE exacerbated myocardial fibrosis and oxidative stress in TAC offspring.
  • MFE modulated cardiac hypertrophy-associated gene expression and upregulated p38-MAPK signaling.

Conclusions:

  • Maternal fructose intake during pregnancy and lactation negatively impacts offspring cardiac development.
  • MFE worsens pressure overload-induced cardiac remodeling, fibrosis, and oxidative stress.
  • Prenatal nutritional interventions are crucial for preventing long-term cardiovascular consequences.

Keywords:
cardiac hypertrophydevelopmental programmingmaternal fructose exposureoxidative stresstransverse aortic constriction

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