Maternal High-fat Diet and Diabetes Impairs Cardiac Metabolism and Mitochondrial Dynamics in Adult Offspring of Diabetic Pregnancy

BackgroundOffspring of diabetic mothers are at risk of cardiovascular disease at birth and throughout life. We recently reported that maternal high-fat (HF) diet impairs cardiac function in newborn offspring of diabetic pregnancy through metabolic stress and mitochondrial dysfunction. Whether this in utero exposure to maternal hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia can have lasting consequences on the developing heart is still unknown. ObjectiveTo determine the long-term effects of prenatal exposure to maternal diabetes and high-fat (HF) diet on cardiac metabolism in the adult offspring. MethodsFemale Sprague Dawley rats received controlled (CD) or HF diet throughout the study. At gestational day 14, dams were injected with either citrate buffer (CB) placebo or streptozotocin (STZ) to induce diabetes producing offspring from the following groups: controls (CD-CB), diabetic exposed (CD-STZ), HF exposed (HF-CB), and combination exposed (HF-STZ). Litters were culled to equal size and pups were cross-fostered to norm...