Maternal high fat diet multigenerationally programs HPA function and behaviors in male rat offspring
5
Citation
0
Reference
10
Related Paper
Citation Trend
Abstract:
Abstract Maternal environmental factors have been demonstrated to exert significant influences on the health of offspring. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is an important neuroendocrine stress system that can be influenced by early-life challenges. Our previous research has revealed that the consumption of a high-fat diet (HFD) by pregnant and lactating rats leads to the programming of HPA axis activity in male offspring of the first generation (referred to as F1HFD/C). The present study aimed to investigate whether the observed remodeling of the HPA axis could be inherited by second-generation male offspring (referred to as F2HFD/C), following maternal HFD exposure. The results showed that F2HFD/C rats exhibited enhanced basal HPA axis activity, similar to their F1HFD/C ancestors. Moreover, F2HFD/C rats displayed exacerbated corticosterone responses to restraint and lipopolysaccharide-induced stress, but not to insulin-induced hypoglycemia stress. Furthermore, maternal HFD exposure significantly aggravated depression-like behavior in the F2 generation subjected to chronic unpredictable mild stress. To investigate the role of central CGRP signaling in maternal diet-induced programming of the HPA axis across generations, we conducted central infusion of αCGRP8-37, a CGRP receptor antagonist, in F2HFD/C rats. The results demonstrated that αCGRP8-37, attenuated depression-like behaviors and reduced the hyperresponsiveness of the HPA axis to restraint stress in these rats. Therefore, central CGRP signaling may contribute to maternal diet-induced programming of HPA axis across generations. In conclusion, our study provides evidence that maternal HFD consumption can lead to multigenerational programming of the HPA axis and behaviors in adult male descendants.Keywords:
Corticosterone
Neurokinin B
Cite
Citations (56)
Abstract Food transfer is considered to provide infants with additional nutrients during weaning, and in fact, its frequency peaks around this time. However, the mechanisms underlying such food transfer remain unclear. In this study, we investigated whether adult common marmosets ( Callithrix jacchus ) change their tolerance to offspring begging for food depending on the offspring's age. We used four families consisting of breeding pairs, older offspring (29–49 weeks old), and younger offspring (7–15 weeks old). To directly compare the responses of a parent with its older and younger offspring, we placed one parent and one offspring in a testing space at one time. We presented foods where only the parent could reach them to ensure that the foods were transferred from the parent to offspring. Younger offspring showed more interest in food being held by the parents than older offspring. Parents refused older offspring more frequently than younger offspring and transferred food more often to younger offspring than to older offspring. There was no difference in all behavioral categories between fathers and mothers. These results suggest that both fathers and mothers are more tolerant to weanlings, but their tolerance decreases as offspring mature. Am. J. Primatol. 70:999–1002, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Parent–offspring conflict
Begging
Cite
Citations (15)
Summary 1. Maternal hormones during embryogenesis act as a bridge between the maternal and the offspring environment and consequently may allow maternal pre‐programming of offspring phenotype to the environment, assuming that maternal environment is a reliable predictor of offspring environment. 2. We use an orthogonal experimental design in which we increase plasma corticosterone concentration (vs. control) in placentotrophic gravid female spotted skinks ( Niveoscincus ocellatus ) and their offspring. We hypothesize that high concentrations of maternal corticosterone allow offspring phenotype to be pre‐programmed to better cope with high concentrations of corticosterone after birth and, consequently, offspring would not suffer from its deleterious effects. We use growth as a measure of performance as corticosterone typically affects growth in reptiles. 3. High concentrations of maternal corticosterone had significant effects on offspring body condition at birth which could have resulted from corticosterone passing through the complex placenta and/or from the indirect effects of corticosterone on maternal body condition. 4. There was no indication of maternal pre‐programming to high concentrations of corticosterone postpartum: growth rate of offspring placed in the same treatment (corticosterone vs. control) than their mother was not different to growth rate of offspring placed in a different treatment than their mother. 5. Maternal pre‐programming to corticosterone may not have been selected for in this species either because maternal chronic stress is not a reliable predictor of offspring chronic stress or because maternal pre‐programming does not outweigh the costs of having reduced sensitivity to the hormone, resulting in slower, less appropriate reactions in stressful conditions. This study further demonstrates the highly versatile and context‐dependent nature of maternal effects and the trade‐offs between costs and benefits of maternal pre‐programming.
Corticosterone
Maternal effect
Cite
Citations (22)
Maternal effects are increasingly recognized as important drivers of population dynamics and determinants of evolutionary trajectories. Recently, there has been a proliferation of studies finding or citing a positive relationship between maternal size/age and offspring size or offspring quality. The relationship between maternal phenotype and offspring size is intriguing in that it is unclear why young mothers should produce offspring of inferior quality or fitness. Here we evaluate the underlying evolutionary pressures that may lead to a maternal size/age-offspring size correlation and consider the likelihood that such a correlation results in a positive relationship between the age or size of mothers and the fitness of their offspring. We find that, while there are a number of reasons why selection may favor the production of larger offspring by larger mothers, this change in size is more likely due to associated changes in the maternal phenotype that affect the offspring size-performance relationship. We did not find evidence that the offspring of older females should have intrinsically higher fitness. When we explored this issue theoretically, the only instance in which smaller mothers produce suboptimal offspring sizes is when a (largely unsupported) constraint on maximum offspring size is introduced into the model. It is clear that larger offspring fare better than smaller offspring when reared in the same environment, but this misses a critical point: different environments elicit selection for different optimal sizes of young. We suggest that caution should be exercised when interpreting the outcome of offspring-size experiments when offspring from different mothers are reared in a common environment, because this approach may remove the source of selection (e.g., reproducing in different context) that induced a shift in offspring size in the first place. It has been suggested that fish stocks should be managed to preserve these older age classes because larger mothers produce offspring with a greater chance of survival and subsequent recruitment. Overall, we suggest that, while there are clear and compelling reasons for preserving older females in exploited populations, there is little theoretical justification or evidence that older mothers produce offspring with higher per capita fitness than do younger mothers.
Maternal effect
Parent–offspring conflict
Affect
Cite
Citations (143)
Studies have investigated the associations between parental metabolic syndrome (MetS) and offspring MetS. This study aimed to uncover parental-offspring associations for MetS and its components according to offspring sex and age.A cross-sectional study in 1,403 fathers, 1,451 mothers, and 1,532 offspring (340 male and 404 female offspring aged 10-18 years; 283 male and 505 female offspring aged 19-25 years) using the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data between 2010 and 2013.All categorized MetS components in fathers and mothers were significantly associated with the same components in male offspring, while high waist circumference, high triglycerides, and low high-density lipoprotein in fathers and mothers were associated with the same components in female offspring. The number of categorized MetS components which were significantly associated between parent-offspring pairs was greater in offspring aged 19-25 years than in those aged 10-18 years. All categorized MetS components were significantly associated between father-male offspring aged 19-25 years pairs, but not in other parent-offspring pairs. The MetS per se in fathers and mothers was significantly associated with that in male offspring aged 10-18 years.There were differential associations according to offspring sex and age group and parent's sex with respect to parental-offspring associations for MetS and its individual components. The associations for MetS and its components were stronger in young adult versus adolescent offspring, in male offspring versus female offspring.
Cite
Citations (6)
Cite
Citations (0)
Cite
Citations (3)
Cite
Citations (0)
Neurokinin A
Neurokinin B
Cite
Citations (0)