Acquired Alterations of Hypothalamic Gene Expression of Insulin and Leptin Receptors and Glucose Transporters in Prenatally High-Glucose Exposed Three-Week Old Chickens Do Not Coincide with Aberrant Promoter DNA Methylation

Background Prenatal exposures may have a distinct impact for long-term health, one example being exposure to maternal ‘diabesity’ during pregnancy increasing offspring ‘diabesity’ risk. Malprogramming of the central nervous regulation of body weight, food intake and metabolism has been identified as a critical mechanism. While concrete disrupting factors still remain unclear, growing focus on acquired epigenomic alterations have been proposed. Due to the independent development from the mother, the chicken embryo provides a valuable model to distinctively establish causal factors and mechanisms.