Maternal intermittent fasting before mating alters hepatic DNA methylation in offspring.

Abstract

Aim: Our aim was to explore how maternal intermittent fasting (IF) influences offspring metabolism. Materials & methods: A model of female C57BL/6J mice alternate-day feeding before mating was established and alteration of hepatic DNA methylation in offspring analyzed by whole genome bisulfite sequencing. Results: IF damsweighed less(p=0.03) and had lowerrandom blood glucose levels (p=0.04). Lower birth weight (p=0.0031) and impaired glucose metabolism were also observed in the offspring of theIF mice. The hepatic genome-wide DNA methylation maps showed a correlation between maternal IF and decreased hepatic global DNA methylation of adult offspring. In the offspring liver, 2869 differentially methylated DNAregionswere altered. Conclusions: Our finding suggests that maternal IF before mating significantly alters hepatic DNA methylation in offspring.