Abstract
Maternal physical activity attenuates cardiorespiratory dysfunctions and transcriptional alterations presented by the carotid body (CB) of rats. Rats performed physical activity and were classified as inactive/active. During gestation and lactation, mothers received either normoprotein (NP-17% protein) or low-protein diet (LP-8% protein). In offspring, biochemical serum levels, respiratory parameters, cardiovascular parameters and the mRNA expression of hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha (HIF-1α), tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and purinergic receptors were evaluate. LP-inactive pups presented lower RF from 1st to 14th days old, and higher RF at 30 days than did NP-inactive and NP-active pups. LP-inactive pups presented with reduced serum protein, albumin, cholesterol and triglycerides levels and an increased fasting glucose level compared to those of NP-inactive and NP-active groups. LP and LP-inactive animals showed an increase in the cardiac variability at the Low-Frequency bands, suggesting a major influence of sympathetic nervous activity. In mRNA analyses, LP-inactive animals showed increased HIF-1α expression and similar expression of TH and purinergic receptors in the CB compared to those of NP groups. All these changes observed in LP-inactive pups were reversed in the pups of active mothers (LP-active). Maternal physical activity is able to attenuate the metabolic, cardiorespiratory and HIF-1α transcription changes induced by protein malnutrition.
Highlights
In recent years, epidemiological data from human studies and experimental evidence have verified the importance of maternal nutrition during gestation and lactation in the genesis of hypertension in adult offspring[1,2,3,4,5]
Following the observation that sympathetic overactivity is related to the development of hypertension in organisms that suffered perinatal protein malnutrition, the molecular mechanism may include the expression of the inducible hypoxia factor (HIF-1α) in the carotid body (CB) cells[11,12] and the expression of purinergic receptors (P2X)[13,14]
The LP group showed a reduction in the serum concentration of total proteins, albumin, triglycerides and cholesterol and an increase in glucose serum concentration compared with the NP group (Table 1)
Summary
Epidemiological data from human studies and experimental evidence have verified the importance of maternal nutrition during gestation and lactation in the genesis of hypertension in adult offspring[1,2,3,4,5]. A recent review showed accumulating evidence that, to a significant degree, the programmed hypertension may have a developmental origin, and the sympathetic-respiratory dysfunctions play an important role on the development of the maternal diet induced-hypertension[7,8]. Following the observation that sympathetic overactivity is related to the development of hypertension in organisms that suffered perinatal protein malnutrition, the molecular mechanism may include the expression of the inducible hypoxia factor (HIF-1α) in the carotid body (CB) cells[11,12] and the expression of purinergic receptors (P2X)[13,14]. The development of the hypertension in offspring was prevented at 30 days of age in those animals submitted to perinatal protein restriction (8% casein)[18]. Healthy pregnant women without medical contraindications should be encouraged to participate in regular physical activity at least 150 min per week (analogously 20–30 min per day on most or all days of the week) in moderate aerobic intensity[26]
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