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Maternal High-Fat diet During Pregnancy and Lactation Disrupts NMDA Receptor Expression and Spatial Memory in the
Jozef Mizera1, Grzegorz Kazek2, Bartosz Pomierny3
1Department of Toxicology, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Medyczna 9, 30-688, Kraków, PL, Poland.
Insights
Maternal high-fat diet during pregnancy and lactation impairs offspring spatial memory. This diet alters NMDA receptor expression and glutamate levels, impacting cognitive function in offspring.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Biology
- Nutritional Science
Background:
- Maternal high-fat diets (HFD) during gestation and lactation are linked to adverse metabolic and endocrine outcomes in offspring.
- The impact of maternal HFD on offspring NMDA receptors and cognitive functions remains under-investigated.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effects of maternal HFD on NMDA receptor expression and cognitive functions in rat offspring.
- To explore sex-dependent alterations in glutamate levels and their relation to memory deficits.
Main Methods:
- Offspring were born from dams fed a HFD before mating and throughout pregnancy and lactation.
- Novel object location test was used to assess spatial memory.
- NMDA receptor subunits, associated proteins, microRNAs, and glutamate levels were analyzed in the medial prefrontal cortex and hippocampus.
Main Results:
- Spatial memory impairment was observed in adolescent and young adult female offspring.
- Recognition memory remained unaffected.
- Alterations in NMDA receptor subunits, scaffolding proteins, and microRNAs were detected in offspring brains.
- Sex-dependent changes in glutamate levels were identified in key brain regions.
Conclusions:
- Maternal HFD during critical developmental periods can induce memory disturbances in offspring.
- These memory deficits are associated with significant alterations in NMDA receptor expression and glutamate signaling in the offspring's brain.
Abstract:
The problem of an unbalanced diet, overly rich in fats, affects a significant proportion of the population, including women of childbearing age. Negative metabolic and endocrine outcomes for offspring associated with maternal high-fat diet during pregnancy and/or lactation are well documented in the literature. In this paper, we present our findings on the little-studied effects of this diet on NMDA receptors and cognitive functions in offspring. The subject of the study was the rat offspring born from dams fed a high-fat diet before mating and throughout pregnancy and lactation. Using a novel object location test, spatial memory impairment was detected in adolescent offspring as well as in young adult female offspring. The recognition memory of the adolescent and young adult offspring remained unaltered. We also found multiple alterations in the expression of the NMDA receptor subunits, NMDA receptor-associated scaffolding proteins, and selected microRNAs that regulate the activity of the NMDA receptor in the medial prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus of the offspring. Sex-dependent changes in glutamate levels were identified in extracellular fluid obtained from the medial prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus of the offspring. The obtained results indicate that a maternal high-fat diet during pregnancy and lactation can induce in the offspring memory disturbances accompanied by alterations in NMDA receptor expression.
