Maternal fructose consumption programs gene expression pattern in intestine of male offspring

Abstract

Metabolic programming of insulin‐sensitive processes by maternal diet has been demonstrated for liver, pancreas, and muscle of offspring, but has not been evaluated for small intestine. To determine the effects of maternal (MAT) and postweaning diet (PWT) on intestinal programming, male offspring of Sprague Dawley females fed either a 60% starch diet (CON), 60% fructose diet (FRU) or protein restricted diet (LP) throughout pregnancy and lactation were weaned to either a CON, FRU or a 30% fat diet (FAT). Intestinal mRNA expression was evaluated at 18 weeks for all nine MAT×PWT groups. Glucose 6 phosphatase (G6Pase) was elevated in FRUFAT compared with FRUCON offspring (3.98 ± 0.70 vs. 1.16 ± 0.53, P < 0.05) with a similar tendency for PEP carboxykinase (PCK1) (2.95 ± 0.62 vs. 1.53 ± 0.47, P=0.07). G6Pase and PCK1 mRNA levels in offspring from CON and LP dams were not affected by the FAT diet (G6Pase: CONFAT vs. CONCON, 0.46 ± 0.50 vs. 1.17 ± 0.64, LPFAT vs. LPCON, 0.84 ± 0.56 vs. 1.92 ± 0.56, PCK1: CONFAT vs. CONCON, 0.57 ± 0.44 vs. 1.33 ± 0.53, LPFAT vs. LPCON, 0.95 ± 0.53 vs. 0.82 ± 0.53). Collectively, offspring from FRU dams had more (P < 0.05) PCG‐1α mRNA compared with offspring of CON or LP dams (1.31 ± 0.14 vs. 0.89 ± 0.13 or 0.85 ± 0.14, respectively). These data indicate a persistent adaptive response for intestinal gene expression in offspring that is sensitive to maternal fructose consumption and amplified with postweaning fat intake.Grant Funding Source: NIH DK077581