Daily Rhythms Are Altered by High‐Fat Feeding in Female Offspring Born to Obese Mothers

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About 20% of women are obese during pregnancy. Children born to obese mothers are at increased risk of obesity, impaired glucose tolerance, and other facets of metabolic syndrome. Disruption of circadian rhythms is also associated with obesity and metabolic dysfunction. Circadian, or daily, rhythms are approximately 24‐hour fluctuations in physiology and behavior. Environmental factors, such as the light‐dark cycle and diet, can alter these rhythms. For example, in male mice, high‐fat diet (HFD) feeding alters daily rhythms and increases body weight. In contrast, female mice fed HFD do not become obese, and their daily rhythms are not altered. Previous studies have shown that female mice will develop diet‐induced obesity if they are born to an obese mother. In this study, we sought to determine if female offspring weaned from obese mothers had disrupted daily rhythms of eating behavior and locomotor activity. Female C57BL/6J mice were fed HFD (60% kcal fat) for 12 weeks (6 weeks prior to pregnancy and throughout pregnancy and nursing). After weaning, female offspring were fed low‐fat diet (LFD, 10% kcal fat) for 5 weeks and then HFD for 8 weeks. We first continuously measured daily eating behavior rhythms with infrared video cameras. All female offspring, regardless of whether the mother was lean or obese, had high‐amplitude rhythms of eating behavior during LFD feeding. Consistent with our previous studies, HFD consumption did not alter the eating behavior rhythms of females born to lean mothers. In contrast, HFD consumption reduced the amplitudes, or robustness, of the eating behavior rhythms in females born to obese mothers. We also investigated the effects of HFD on locomotor activity rhythms, measure by infrared sensors, in female offspring born to lean and obese mothers. The daily rhythms of activity were not affected by HFD feeding in females born to lean mothers. However, the phases (or timing) of the activity rhythms were altered by HFD feeding, compared to LFD feeding, in females born to obese mothers. Together, our results show that maternal obesity causes daily rhythms in female offspring to be susceptible to the effects of HFD feeding.Support or Funding InformationThis study was funded by an American Physiological Society Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship, the Gertude F. Ribble Trust, and the University of Kentucky.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.