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Obesity and adipocyte abnormalities in offspring of rats undernourished during pregnancy
Insights
Maternal dietary restriction during early pregnancy in rats leads to offspring obesity in males, not females. Offspring exhibit larger fat cells, with males showing enlarged fat pads and females having hypertrophied adipocytes in specific areas.
Area of Science:
- Developmental biology
- Nutritional science
- Endocrinology
Background:
- Maternal nutrition significantly impacts offspring development and long-term health.
- Nutritional programming during critical developmental windows can induce lasting metabolic changes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the long-term effects of maternal undernutrition during early gestation on offspring body weight, feeding behavior, and adipocyte biology.
- To determine sex-specific differences in offspring response to prenatal nutritional insults.
Main Methods:
- Pregnant rats were subjected to dietary restriction during the first two weeks of gestation.
- Offspring body weight, food intake (hyperphagia), and adipocyte size and fat pad weight were assessed at various time points, including adulthood.
- Histological analysis was performed on specific adipose tissue depots.
Main Results:
- Offspring born to underfed mothers had normal birth and weaning weights.
- Male offspring developed hyperphagia and increased weight gain starting around 5 weeks of age.
- Both male and female offspring exhibited increased adipocyte size (hypertrophy) in adulthood. Males showed enlarged epididymal and retroperitoneal fat pads, while females had hypertrophied adipocytes in parametrial fat pads without significant fat pad enlargement.
Conclusions:
- Early-gestation maternal undernutrition can program offspring for obesity, particularly in males, through mechanisms involving hyperphagia and altered adipocyte development.
- Sex-specific metabolic programming occurs, with males exhibiting more pronounced obesity phenotypes.
- Adipocyte hypertrophy, independent of overall fat pad size in females, is a key feature of this programming.
Abstract:
Pregnant rats underfed in the first 2 weeks of gestation had offspring with normal body weight at birth and weaning. However, starting at about 5 weeks of age the male offspring became hyperphagic and gained more weight than the controls. The female offspring did not overeat and did not become obese. Both male and female progeny showed increased fat cell size as adults. In males the epididymal and retroperitoneal fat pads were significantly enlarged nd adipocytes in these pads were hypertrophied. In females and fat pads were not enlarged, but adipocytes in the parametrial pads were hypertrophied.