Maternal diet during gestation affect prostatic tissue component in SHR/Izm offspring

Area of Science:

• Reproductive biology and developmental toxicology.
• Epigenetics and disease mechanisms.

Background:

• Maternal nutrition is linked to offspring health outcomes, potentially via epigenetic modifications.
• Limited research exists on the maternal nutrition-benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) link.
• This study investigates maternal diet effects on offspring prostate development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the association between maternal nutrition during pregnancy and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in male offspring.
• To evaluate the impact of low-protein (LPD) and high-fat (HFD) diets on prostate development.
• To investigate potential underlying molecular mechanisms, including gene expression and DNA methylation.

Main Methods:

• Female spontaneously hypertensive rats were fed standard, low-protein, or high-fat diets during gestation.
• Offspring prostates were analyzed at 48 weeks using fluorescent immunostaining (cytokeratin, vimentin, Ki-67).
• Gene expression (microarray, RT-PCR) and DNA methylation (pyrosequencing) were assessed.

Main Results:

• Maternal LPD led to increased ventral prostate epithelial area, associated with upregulated apoptosis inhibitors (XIAP).
• Maternal HFD resulted in increased stromal area, linked to epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers (vimentin, TGF-beta pathway).
• Both LPD and HFD altered gene expression related to development and cell differentiation, with increased NFκB and Smad3.

Conclusions:

• Maternal undernutrition (LPD) promotes offspring prostate epithelial hyperplasia.
• Maternal obesity (HFD) induces stromal growth via EMT in offspring prostate.
• Maternal diet significantly influences offspring prostate development, potentially through epigenetic pathways.