Abstract
Studies suggest bone growth & development and susceptibility to vascular disease in later life are influenced by maternal nutrition, during intrauterine and early postnatal life. There is evidence for a role of vitamin K-dependent proteins (VKDPs) including Osteocalcin, Matrix-gla protein, Periostin, and Gas6, in bone and vascular development. This study extends the analysis of VKDPs previously conducted in 6 week old offspring, into offspring of 30 weeks of age, to assess the longer term effects of a maternal and postnatal high fat (HF) diet on VKDP expression. Overall a HF maternal diet and offspring diet exacerbated the bone changes observed. Sex specific and tissue specific differences were observed in VKDP expression for both aorta and femoral tissues. In addition, significant correlations were observed between femoral OCN, Periostin Gas6, and Vkor expression levels and measures of femoral bone structure. Furthermore, MGP, OCN, Ggcx and Vkor expression levels correlated to mass and fat volume, in both sexes. In summary the current study has highlighted the importance of the long-term effects of maternal nutrition on offspring bone development and the correlation of VKDPs to bone structure.
Highlights
The vitamin K dependent proteins (VKDPs) consist of at least 16 known proteins with varied roles, including factors involved in blood coagulation and anticoagulation
Body mass and volume parameters were observed to be significantly correlated with expression levels of Matrix gla protein (MGP), OCN, Periostin, Ggcx, and Vkor
This study extends the analysis of VKDPs previously made in 6 week old offspring [27], when the mice have just become sexually mature, into offspring of 30 weeks of age, to assess the longer term effects of a high fat (HF) diet on VKDP expression
Summary
The vitamin K dependent proteins (VKDPs) consist of at least 16 known proteins with varied roles, including factors involved in blood coagulation (such as factors VII and X) and anticoagulation (e.g. proteins C and S). Gas expression was shown to regulate chondrogenic differentiation [11] and to be associated with altered glucose tolerance, inflammation [12], small for gestational age [13] as well as cardiovascular disease [14]. In addition to these VKDPs, vitamin K itself has been shown to be key in coagulation as well as to play a number of roles in bone growth and development [15]. The data presented in this study extends these studies with analysis performed in offspring at 30 weeks of age
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