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Associations between maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and infant striatal mean diffusivity
Aylin Rosberg1,2, Harri Merisaari3,4, John D Lewis5
1FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Turku Brain and Mind Centre, Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland. ayrosb@utu.fi.
Insights
Maternal pre-pregnancy obesity may impact fetal brain development. Higher maternal body mass index (BMI) was linked to altered microstructure in the infant
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Biology
- Public Health
Background:
- Parental obesity is a significant risk factor for childhood obesity.
- Maternal weight status during pregnancy may influence offspring brain development and future obesity risk.
- Prenatal exposure to maternal adiposity can impact fetal growth and neurodevelopment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the influence of maternal pre-pregnancy weight status on the developing offspring's brain.
- To examine the relationship between maternal body mass index (BMI) and striatal microstructure in neonates.
- To explore potential in utero mechanisms linking maternal obesity to offspring obesity risk.
Main Methods:
- Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was used to assess the microstructure of striatal brain regions in neonates.
- Linear regression analysis examined associations between maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and infant striatal mean diffusivity (MD).
- Study included 116 neonates (66 males, 50 females) with detailed gestational age and scan data.
Main Results:
- A significant association was found between higher maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and increased mean diffusivity (MD) in the infant's left caudate nucleus.
- This association remained significant after adjusting for potential confounding covariates.
- Findings suggest a potential impact of maternal adiposity on the developing fetal brain's white matter microstructure.
Conclusions:
- In utero exposure to maternal adiposity may impair the microstructure of the infant's left caudate nucleus, indicated by altered mean diffusivity.
- The caudate nucleus plays a crucial role in regulating eating behavior and reward processing.
- Further research is warranted to understand the long-term implications of these early-life brain alterations on offspring weight trajectories and obesity risk.
Background:
It is well-established that parental obesity is a strong risk factor for offspring obesity. Further, a converging body of evidence now suggests that maternal weight profiles may affect the developing offspring's brain in a manner that confers future obesity risk. Here, we investigated how pre-pregnancy maternal weight status influences the reward-related striatal areas of the offspring's brain during in utero development.
Methods:
We used diffusion tensor imaging to quantify the microstructure of the striatal brain regions of interest in neonates (N = 116 [66 males, 50 females], mean gestational weeks at birth [39.88], SD = 1.14; at scan [43.56], SD = 1.05). Linear regression was used to test the associations between maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and infant striatal mean diffusivity.
Results:
High maternal pre-pregnancy BMI was associated with higher mean MD values in the infant's left caudate nucleus. Results remained unchanged after the adjustment for covariates.
Conclusions:
In utero exposure to maternal adiposity might have a growth-impairing impact on the mean diffusivity of the infant's left caudate nucleus. Considering the involvement of the caudate nucleus in regulating eating behavior and food-related reward processing later in life, this finding calls for further investigations to define the prognostic relevance of early-life caudate nucleus development and weight trajectories of the offspring.
