Metabolic Consequences of Exposure to Maternal High Fat Diet in Offspring

Abstract

The increased risk for obesity in offspring born to obese mothers may be driven by changes in energy expenditure. To examine the effects of maternal high fat diet (HFD)‐induced obesity on offspring energy expenditure, female C57BL6/J mice were fed a control (17% fat, TD95092) or HFD (45% fat, TD8811) ad libitum for 12 weeks prior to and during pregnancy and during lactation. Female mice were bred with lean male mice at 17 wk of age. At weaning, male offspring from control and HFD‐dams were randomized to control (C) or HFD (H), provided ad libitum, generating 4 groups of offspring: CC, CH, HC, and HH, where the first letter corresponds to maternal diet and the second to offspring post‐weaning diet. At 20 weeks of age, energy intake and expenditure (EE) were assessed in male offspring over 48 h using the Promethion Continuous Indirect Calorimetry system (Sable Systems). HFD consumption in offspring was associated with reduced respiratory exchange ratio (RER, CC vs CH: 0.89±0.02 vs 0.82±0.02; p<0.01, n=13–16). There was no effect of maternal HFD on offspring RER (CC vs HC, p= 0.66; CH vs HH, p=0.54). To examine the effect of maternal HFD on offspring energy expenditure, ANCOVA using offspring total body weight (measured at the beginning of the indirect calorimety experiment) as a covariate for the 48 h recording period (both light and dark cycles) was performed. When comparing the effect of maternal HFD in offspring fed either a control diet (CC vs HC) or HFD (HC vs HH) postweaning, the covariate (offspring total body weight) significantly predicted EE for both comparisons (CC vs HC, p<0.05; HC vs HH, p = 0.05), while there was no significant effect of maternal diet on EE. Offspring food intake (in both light and dark cycles) was not altered by maternal HFD (CC vs HC, p=0.22; CH vs HH, p=0.21). In control‐fed offspring, maternal HFD had no effect on body weight at 20 wk of age (CC vs CH, 26.84±0.79g vs 28.91±1.03g, p=0.12), while in HFD‐fed offspring, males exposed to maternal HFD were significantly heavier than males from control‐fed dams (CH vs HH, 33.81±1.46g vs 38.42±1.59g, p=0.04). The observed changes in RER indicate that offspring post‐weaning HFD, but not maternal HFD, is associated with a shift in substrate utilization, specifically with increased fat oxidation in response to post‐weaning HFD. In the context of maternal HFD, the EE data suggest that offspring total body weight, and not maternal obesity may be driving offspring changes in energy expenditure.Support or Funding InformationUSDA ARIS Project 6026‐51000‐010‐05SThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.