Maternal High-Fat Diet Worsens Necrotizing Enterocolitis via Effects on Mitochondrial Function in Newborn Mice

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a life-threatening intestinal disease of preterm infants that causes epithelial injury and necrosis. Prematurity and postnatal formula administration are known contributors, but maternal nutrition may also influence offspring gut susceptibility. The biological relationship between maternal diet and neonatal intestinal vulnerability remains unclear.

A maternal high-fat diet (HFD) mouse model with a neonatal NEC model were used to investigate how maternal HFD affects offspring outcomes. Bulk RNA sequencing of ileal tissue before NEC induction was used to assess baseline transcription profiles. Following NEC, survival rate was assessed with ileal histological injury, epithelial reactive oxygen species, and mitochondrial membrane depolarization, as well as ultrastructural characteristics on transmission electron microscopy.

Compared with standard diet, offspring born from HFD mothers showed altered mitochondria-related gene expression, shorter villi, and reduced MUC2⁺ goblet cells. Transmission electron microscopy showed region-specific mitochondria abnormalities, with crypt enterocytes showing reduced mitochondrial volume density and size, and increased mitochondria-endoplasmic reticulum contact site after NEC induction. Strikingly, HFD increased mortality and elevated epithelial reactive oxygen species after the induction of NEC, linking maternal dietary risk factors with NEC development.

Maternal HFD disrupts mitochondrial architecture and transcriptional programming in the neonatal intestine, promoting a pre-injured state that increases NEC susceptibility, suggesting that maternal diet may be a modifiable target for early NEC prevention.