Prenatal Choline Supplement in a Maternal Obesity Model Modulates Offspring Hepatic Lipidomes.

Area of Science:

• Nutritional Biochemistry
• Maternal-Fetal Health
• Metabolic Disease Research

Background:

• Maternal obesity increases offspring risk for metabolic diseases like MAFLD.
• Choline is vital for lipid metabolism and is affected in MAFLD.
• Understanding maternal nutrient effects on offspring metabolic health is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate maternal choline supplementation's impact on offspring hepatic lipidome under obesogenic conditions.
• To determine if choline supplementation mitigates diet-induced metabolic disturbances in offspring.

Main Methods:

• Mouse model fed a high-fat (HF) diet during gestation and lactation.
• Maternal choline supplementation (CS) administered alongside the HF diet.
• Analysis of offspring liver lipidome at embryonic day 17.5 and post-weaning (6 weeks HF feeding).

Main Results:

• Maternal HF+CS increased plasmalogen phospholipids in offspring livers.
• Embryonic plasmalogen increase suggests protection against oxidative stress.
• Postnatal HF-fed male offspring showed increased sphingomyelin and nervonic acid, linked to plasmalogen synthesis.

Conclusions:

• Maternal choline supplementation modulates fetal and postnatal hepatic lipidome in male offspring exposed to obesogenic diets.
• The study highlights plasmalogen synthesis as a key antioxidative response to maternal choline supplementation.
• This suggests a protective mechanism for the offspring liver against high-fat diet-induced damage.