Mort, E.J.; Heritage, S.; Jones, S.; Fowden, A.L.; Camm, E.J. Sex-Specific Effects of a Maternal Obesogenic Diet High in Fat and Sugar on Offspring Adiposity, Growth, and Behavior. Nutrients2023, 15, 4594.
Mort, E.J.; Heritage, S.; Jones, S.; Fowden, A.L.; Camm, E.J. Sex-Specific Effects of a Maternal Obesogenic Diet High in Fat and Sugar on Offspring Adiposity, Growth, and Behavior. Nutrients 2023, 15, 4594.
Mort, E.J.; Heritage, S.; Jones, S.; Fowden, A.L.; Camm, E.J. Sex-Specific Effects of a Maternal Obesogenic Diet High in Fat and Sugar on Offspring Adiposity, Growth, and Behavior. Nutrients2023, 15, 4594.
Mort, E.J.; Heritage, S.; Jones, S.; Fowden, A.L.; Camm, E.J. Sex-Specific Effects of a Maternal Obesogenic Diet High in Fat and Sugar on Offspring Adiposity, Growth, and Behavior. Nutrients 2023, 15, 4594.
Abstract
With rising rates of human obesity, the study aimed to determine the relationship between maternal diet-induced obesity and offspring morphometrics and behaviour in mice. Pregnant and lactating female mice fed a diet high in fat and sugar (HFHS) commonly consumed by human populations showed decreased food, calorie, and protein intake but increased adiposity at the expense of lean mass. The pre-weaning body weight of HFHS offspring was reduced for the first postnatal week but not thereafter with HFHS female offspring having higher body weights by weaning, due to continuing higher fractional growth rates. Post-weaning, there were minor differences in offspring food and protein intake. Maternal diet, however, affected fractional growth rate and total body fat content of male but not female HFHS offspring. Maternal diet did not affect offspring locomotor activity or social behaviour in either sex. Both male and female HFHS offspring displayed reduced anxiety-related behaviours with sex differences in particular aspects of the elevated plus maze task. In the novel object recognition task, performance was impaired in male but not female HFHS offspring. Collectively, the findings demonstrate that maternal obesity alters the growth, adiposity, and behaviour of male and female offspring, with sex-specific differences.
Keywords
adiposity; high fat and sugar diet; dietary intake; obesity; behavioural neuroscience
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Life Sciences
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
