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Maternal high-fat diet changes breathing pattern and causes excessive sympathetic discharge in juvenile offspring rat
Marlusa Karlen-Amarante1, Mirian Bassi1, Rafaela Moreira Barbosa1
1Department of Physiology and Pathology, School of Dentistry, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Araraquara, Brazil.
Insights
Maternal obesity from a high-fat diet (HFD) causes offspring to have altered breathing patterns and increased sympathetic nerve activity, potentially leading to respiratory and cardiovascular issues.
Area of Science:
- Physiology
- Developmental Biology
- Cardiovascular Science
Background:
- Maternal obesity is a known risk factor for cardiorespiratory and metabolic diseases in offspring.
- Early life over-nutrition can program long-term health consequences.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of maternal high-fat diet (HFD) on the cardiorespiratory system of juvenile offspring.
- To examine changes in breathing patterns and sympathetic nerve activity in offspring exposed to maternal obesity prenatally.
Main Methods:
- Adult female rats were fed a standard diet (SD) or HFD before and during gestation/lactation.
- Offspring (O-SD and O-HFD) received SD post-weaning.
- Nerve recordings in decerebrated preparations assessed breathing patterns and sympathetic activity.
- Responses to hypercapnia and hypoxia were evaluated.
- Measurements were also taken in freely behaving animals.
Main Results:
- Offspring of HFD dams (O-HFD) exhibited abdominal expiratory hyperactivity and elevated vasoconstrictor sympathetic activity at rest.
- Respiratory-related oscillations in sympathetic activity were blunted in O-HFD offspring.
- O-HFD offspring showed similar ventilatory responses to hypercapnia/hypoxia as controls, but respiratory-sympathetic coupling remained impaired.
- Freely behaving O-HFD rats had higher resting ventilation and blood pressure variability due to increased sympathetic modulation.
Conclusions:
- Maternal obesity during gestation and lactation alters offspring cardiorespiratory function, leading to active expiration and sympathetic overactivity.
- These findings provide evidence linking maternal obesity to respiratory distress and hypertension risk in children.
- Early life nutritional environment significantly impacts offspring's long-term physiological programming.
Abstract:
Early life over-nutrition, as experienced in maternal obesity, is a risk factor for developing cardiorespiratory and metabolic diseases. Here we investigated the effects of high-fat diet (HFD) consumption on the breathing pattern and sympathetic discharge to blood vessels in juvenile offspring from dams fed with HFD (O-HFD). Adult female Holtzman rats were given a standard diet (SD) or HFD from 6 wk before gestation to weaning. At weaning (P21), the male offspring from SD dams (O-SD) and O-HFD received SD until the experimental day (P28-P45). Nerve recordings performed in decerebrated in situ preparations demonstrated that O-HFD animals presented abdominal expiratory hyperactivity under resting conditions and higher vasoconstrictor sympathetic activity levels. The latter was associated with blunted respiratory-related oscillations in sympathetic activity, especially in control animals. When exposed to elevated hypercapnia or hypoxia levels, the O-HFD animals mounted similar ventilatory and respiratory motor responses as the control animals. Hypercapnia and hypoxia exposure also increased sympathetic activity in both groups but did not reinstate the respiratory-sympathetic coupling in the O-HFD rats. In freely behaving conditions, O-HFD animals exhibited higher resting pulmonary ventilation and larger variability of arterial pressure levels than the O-SD animals due to augmented sympathetic modulation of blood vessel diameter. Maternal obesity modified the functioning of cardiorespiratory systems in offspring at a young age, inducing active expiration and sympathetic overactivity under resting conditions. These observations represent new evidence about pregnancy-related complications that lead to the development of respiratory distress and hypertension in children of obese mothers.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Maternal obesity is a risk factor for developing cardiorespiratory and metabolic diseases. This study highlights the changes on the breathing pattern and sympathetic discharge to blood vessels in juvenile offspring from dams fed with HFD. Maternal obesity modified the functioning of cardiorespiratory systems in offspring, inducing active expiration and sympathetic overactivity. These observations represent new evidence about pregnancy-related complications that lead to the development of respiratory distress and hypertension in children of obese mothers.
