467 Maternal dietary supplementation with pomegranate juice during lactation reduces offspring brain inflammatory response in mice

Abstract

Pomegranates are considered a potent natural antioxidant. We hypothesized that maternal over-the-counter pomegranate juice (POM) consumption during lactation would attenuate inflammation-induced offspring brain injury. Six pregnant mice gave birth naturally at term. Following delivery from day 1 to 5, all dams were provided with standard chow. Of which, three dams were provided with ad libitum access to water (WAT), and the other 3 with diluted (1:5) POM juice. Pups were randomized into three groups: Control (CON), intraperitoneal injection of normal saline (NS), or lipopolysaccharide (LPS) 100 μg/kg, and creating six groups by taking two pups from each dam to 6 pups in each group. Pups were sacrificed 4 hours following the injection, weighed, and the brains processed for further analyses. The serum’s protein level of IL6; The brain’s protein level of NFκB, neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), IL6, and TNFα, were determined by ELISA and Western blot. The offsprings’ weight on their 5th day of life in the POM arm was significantly lower compared to the WAT arm (FigA1). Serum IL6 levels in the POM-CON group were significantly increased compared to pups of the WAT-CON. LPS administration increased pups’ serum IL6 level to a greater degree in the POM than the WAT arm (FigA2). The pups’ brain protein levels of TNFα, IL6, and NFκB of the CON and NS groups of the POM arm were significantly increased compared to pups of the WAT arm. LPS significantly increased pups’ brain protein levels of TNFα IL6 and NFκB within the WAT groups. However, surprisingly, LPS significantly decreased pups’ brain inflammation in the POM group (FigB). A maternal enriched diet with POM during lactation led to low offspring weight and unexpectedly elevated baseline serum and brain inflammation markers. However, it attenuated offspring brain inflammation following LPS induced inflammation. These results suggest that reduced growth in POM offsprings might have contributed to the increased basal inflammation, while maternal POM consumption reduces offspring brain inflammatory response to LPS.View Large Image Figure ViewerDownload Hi-res image Download (PPT)