Abstract
BackgroundNutritional changes can affect future lactation efficiency. In a rabbit model, an obesogenic diet initiated before puberty and pursued throughout pregnancy enhances mammary differentiation, but when started during the neonatal period can cause abnormal mammary development in early pregnancy. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of an unbalanced diet administered during the pubertal period only.ResultsConsuming an obesogenic diet at puberty did not affect either metabolic parameters or certain maternal reproductive parameters at the onset of adulthood. In contrast, at Day 8 of pregnancy, epithelial tissue showed a lower proliferation rate in obesogenic‐diet fed rabbits than in control‐diet fed rabbits. Wap and Cx26 genes, mammary epithelial cell differentiation markers, were upregulated although Wap protein level remained unchanged. However, the expression of genes involved in lipid metabolism and in alveolar formation was not modified.ConclusionTaken together, our results demonstrate that the consumption for 5 weeks of an obesogenic diet during the pubertal period initiates mammary structure modifications and affects mammary epithelial cell proliferation and differentiation. Our findings highlight the potentially important role played by unbalanced nutrition during critical early‐life windows in terms of regulating mammary epithelial cell differentiation and subsequent function in adulthood.
Highlights
The mammary gland is a complex secretory organ that contains different cell types,[1] one of the most important being mammary epithelial cells (MECs) which are responsible for the synthesis and secretion of milk components.[2]
We previously showed in a rabbit model that an obesogenic diet (OD) initiated before puberty and pursued throughout puberty altered mammary gland development.[8]
In order to highlight the importance of nutrition during the period surrounding puberty, we analyzed certain physiological parameters in two groups of rabbits fed with a control diet (CD) or OD during the 5 weeks challenge period between 8 and 13 weeks of age
Summary
The mammary gland is a complex secretory organ that contains different cell types,[1] one of the most important being mammary epithelial cells (MECs) which are responsible for the synthesis and secretion of milk components.[2]. Puberty is a period of upmost importance for mammary gland development, since the mammary gland develops from a rudimentary tree to a branched epithelial network of ducts This process involves growth, proliferation, migration, branching, invasion, apoptosis, and most importantly, tight regulation which allows these processes to take place simultaneously. We examined maternal reproductive parameters during early pregnancy and described the mammary phenotype
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