High Choline Intake during Pregnancy Reduces Characteristics of the Metabolic Syndrome in Male Wistar Rat Offspring Fed a High Fat But Not a Normal Fat Post-Weaning Diet.

Rebecca Simonian,Zdenka Pausova,Emanuela Pannia,G Harvey Anderson,Rola Hammoud,Ruslan Kubant,Adam Metherel

doi:10.3390/nu13051438

Rebecca Simonian, Zdenka Pausova + Show 5 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13051438

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Journal: Nutrients	Publication Date: Apr 24, 2021
Citations: 7	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Toronto, Hospital for Sick Children

Abstract

Maternal choline intakes are below recommendations, potentially impairing the child’s later-life metabolic health. This study aims to elucidate the interaction between the choline content of the gestational diet (GD) and fat content of the post-weaning diet (PWD) on metabolic phenotype of male Wistar rats. Pregnant Wistar rats were fed a standard rodent diet (AIN-93G) with either recommended choline (RC, 1 g/kg diet choline bitartrate) or high choline (HC, 2.5-fold). Male pups were weaned to either a normal (16%) fat (NF) or a high (45%) fat (HF) diet for 17 weeks. Body weight, visceral adiposity, food intake, energy expenditure, plasma hormones, triglycerides, and hepatic fatty acids were measured. HC-HF offspring had 7% lower body weight but not food intake, and lower adiposity, plasma triglycerides, and insulin resistance compared to RC-HF. They also had increased hepatic n-3 fatty acids and a reduced n-6/n-3 and C 18:1 n-9/C18:0 ratios. In contrast, HC-NF offspring had 6–8% higher cumulative food intake and body weight, as well as increased leptin and elevated hepatic C16:1 n-7/C16:0 ratio compared to RC-NF. Therefore, gestational choline supplementation associated with improved long-term regulation of several biomarkers of the metabolic syndrome in male Wistar rat offspring fed a HF, but not a NF, PWD.

Highlights

Maternal nutritional imbalances during pregnancy may alter metabolic adaptive responses in the fetus in utero, resulting in long-term metabolic changes to prepare the newborn for the post-natal environment [1]
Male pups born from dams fed an high choline (HC) diet during pregnancy had significantly lower plasma leptin concentration compared to recommended choline (RC) group (Table S3)
When stratified by post-weaning diet (PWD), HC-normal fat (NF) offspring had 8% higher food intake compared to RC-NF (p < 0.01), but cumulative food intake was not different between RC-high fat (HF) and HC-HF offspring

Summary

Introduction

Maternal nutritional imbalances during pregnancy may alter metabolic adaptive responses in the fetus in utero, resulting in long-term metabolic changes to prepare the newborn for the post-natal environment [1]. One possible mechanism facilitating these early-life adaptations involve DNA-methylation-dependent epigenetic modifications affecting gene expression associated with the regulation of energy balance and metabolism [2,3]. Despite being an essential nutrient during gestation, epidemiological studies show that less than 10% of North American pregnant women meet the adequate dietary intake requirements for choline [5]. It is absent from most multivitamin prenatal supplements [6], raising concern of possible adverse health effects. We recently showed that a high (2.5-fold) choline diet consumed by Wistar rats during pregnancy programs long-term hypothalamic energy regulation in their offspring [7]. Higher expression of the orexigenic neuropeptide-Y neurons in newborn pups reflected their later-life increase in cumulative food intake and body weight gain when fed a normal fat (NF, 16% of calories) post-weaning diet (PWD) [7]

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