A Review of Maternal Nutrition during Pregnancy and Impact on the Offspring through Development: Evidence from Animal Models of Over- and Undernutrition

Similarities in offspring phenotype due to maternal under- or over-nutrition during gestation have been observed in studies conducted at University of Wyoming. In these studies, ewes were either nutrient-restricted (NR) from early to mid-gestation, or fed an obesogenic diet (MO) from preconception through term. Offspring necropsies occurred at mid-gestation, late-gestation, and after parturition. At mid gestation, body weights of NR fetuses were ~30% lighter than controls, whereas MO fetuses were ~30% heavier than those of controls. At birth, lambs born to NR, MO, and control ewes exhibited similar weights. This was a consequence of accelerated fetal growth rates in NR ewes, and reduced fetal growth rates in MO ewes in late gestation, when compared to their respective controls. These fetal growth patterns resulted in remarkably similar effects of increased susceptibility to obesity, cardiovascular disease, and glucose intolerance in offspring programmed mostly during fetal stages of development. These data provide evidence that maternal under- and over-nutrition similarly induce the development of the same cadre of physical and metabolic problems in postnatal life

Evaluation of the Cardiometabolic Disorders after Spinal Cord Injury in Mice

Changes in cardiometabolic functions contribute to increased morbidity and mortality after chronic spinal cord injury. Despite many advancements in discovering SCI-induced pathologies, the cardiometabolic risks and divergences in severity-related responses have yet to be elucidated. Here, we examined the effects of SCI severity on functional recovery and cardiometabolic functions following moderate (50 kdyn) and severe (75 kdyn) contusions in the thoracic-8 (T8) vertebrae in mice using imaging, morphometric, and molecular analyses. Both severities reduced hindlimbs motor functions, body weight (g), and total body fat (%) at all-time points up to 20 weeks post-injury (PI), while only severe SCI reduced the total body lean (%). Severe SCI increased liver echogenicity starting from 12 weeks PI, with an increase in liver fibrosis in both moderate and severe SCI. Severe SCI mice showed a significant reduction in left ventricular internal diameters and LV volume at 20 weeks PI, associated with increased LV ejection fraction as well as cardiac fibrosis. These cardiometabolic dysfunctions were accompanied by changes in the inflammation profile, varying with the severity of the injury, but not in the lipid profile nor cardiac or hepatic tyrosine hydroxylase innervation changes, suggesting that systemic inflammation may be involved in these SCI-induced health complications

Maternal obesity in the ewe increases cardiac ventricular expression of glucocorticoid receptors, proinflammatory cytokines and fibrosis in adult male offspring - Fig 4

<p>mRNA expression of CD68 (panel A), protein expression of CD68 (panel B), mRNA gene expression of TGF-ß1 (panel C), protein expression of TGF-ß1 (panel D), mRNA gene expression of TNF-alpha (panel E), and protein expression of TNF-alpha (panel F), in the myocardium of CON (open bars) and MO (solid bars) adult male offspring. *LS Means ± SEM differ, (P < 0.05). ^#LS Means ± SEM tended to differ, (P < 0.1); n = 6/group. Data are analyzed by Student's t test.</p

Primers sequences used for real-time-PCR.

<p>Primers sequences used for real-time-PCR.</p