Maternal high-fat diet feeding during pregnancy and lactation augments lung inflammation and remodeling in the offspring

Abstract

Accumulating evidence suggests that maternal obesity increases the risk of their offspring developing noncommunicable diseases later in life, but the potential mechanisms, especially those resulting in abnormal respiratory conditions, are not thoroughly understood. Here, we used maternal high-fat diet (HFD) feeding during premating, pregnancy, and lactation to investigate the effect of maternal HFD on offspring lung development. Offspring birth weight and body weight and composition were measured. Serum leptin levels were measured by ELISA. Hematoxylin–eosin (H&E) and Masson's staining were used in paraffin-embedded lung sections. Levels of transfer growth factor-β (TGF-β) and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) were examined by immunohistochemistry and western blot, respectively. Maternal HFD feeding during pregnancy and lactation lead to higher birth weight, final body weight, fat accumulation and hyperleptinemia in offspring. Maternal HFD feeding aggravated lung inflammatory response in the offspring, resulting in inflammatory cell infiltration and collagen deposition potentially via the enhanced expression of TGF-β and α-SMA in the offspring.