Maternal dietary deficiencies in folic acid or choline worsen stroke outcomes in adult male and female mouse offspring

Maternal one-carbon metabolism plays an important role in early life programming.There is a well-established connection between the fetal environment and the health status of the offspring.Howeve r,there is a knowledge gap on how maternal nutrition impacts stro ke outcomes in offspring.The aim of our study was to investigate the role of maternal dietary deficiencies in folic acid or choline on stroke outcomes in 3-month-old offspring.Adult female mice were fed a folic acid-deficient diet,choline-deficient diet,or control diet 4 weeks before pregnancy.They we re continued on diets during pregnancy and la ctation.Male and female offspring were weaned onto a control diet and at 2 months of age were subjected to ischemic stroke within the sensorimotor cortex via photothrombotic damage.Mothers maintained on either a folic acid-deficient diet or choline-deficient diet had reduced levels of S-adenosylm ethionine in the liver and S-adenosylhomocysteine in the plasma.After ischemic stro ke,motor function was impaired in 3-month-old offspring from mothers receiving either a folic acid-deficient diet or choline-deficient diet compared to the animals receiving a control diet.In brain tissue,there was no difference in ischemic damage volume.When protein levels were assessed in ischemic brain tissue,there were lower levels of active caspase-3 and hypoxia-inducible factor 1α in males compared to females and betaine levels were reduced in offspring from the mothers receiving a choline-deficient diet.Our results demonstrate that a deficient maternal diet at critical time points in neurodevelopment results in worse stro ke outcomes.This study emphasizes the importance of maternal diet and the impact it can have on offspring health.

Epigenetic origins of metabolic disease:The impact of the maternal condition to the offspring epigenome and later health consequences

It has long been established that an adverse maternal condition impacts on the developing fetus and predisposes the offspring to develop metabolic and cardiovascular disease in later life.However,the underlying mechanisms that are initiated during development and contribute to the disease predisposition are understudied.Recently,epigenetic reprogramming in early life has emerged as a promising candidate that could cause altered DNA transcription and gene expression into adulthood and contribute to disease susceptibility.This review will focus on the impact of maternal high fat diet to the offspring in early life and the adult health consequences.We will then discuss the current literature supporting a role for epigenetic modification,such as DNA methylation and histone modifications,as a key mechanism underlying developmental programming.©2013 Beijing Academy of Food Sciences.Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.All rights reserved.

Maternal low protein diet and fetal programming of lean type 2 diabetes

Maternal nutrition is found to be the key factor that determines fetal health in utero and metabolic health during adulthood.Metabolic diseases have been primarily attributed to impaired maternal nutrition during pregnancy,and impaired nutrition has been an immense issue across the globe.In recent years,type 2 diabetes(T2D)has reached epidemic proportion and is a severe public health problem in many countries.Although plenty of research has already been conducted to tackle T2D which is associated with obesity,little is known regarding the etiology and pathophysiology of lean T2D,a variant of T2D.Recent studies have focused on the effects of epigenetic variation on the contribution of in utero origins of lean T2D,although other mechanisms might also contribute to the pathology.Observational studies in humans and experiments in animals strongly suggest an association between maternal low protein diet and lean T2D phenotype.In addition,clear sex-specific disease prevalence was observed in different studies.Consequently,more research is essential for the understanding of the etiology and pathophysiology of lean T2D,which might help to develop better disease prevention and treatment strategies.This review examines the role of protein insufficiency in the maternal diet as the central driver of the developmental programming of lean T2D.

Effects of excessive body fat on colostrum lipid patterns: overweight/obese vs. normal weight mothers

Prenatal overweight/obesity(OW/OB)can alter colostrum lipid patterns,thereby affecting the lipid metabolism and even the cognitive and healthy development of infants.However,studies on changes in colostrum lipids in the context of OW/OB are limited,particularly for glycerides and polar lipids.Therefore,this study investigated the infl uence of maternal prenatal weight on colostrum in lipid subclasses and molecular species.The concentration of triacylglycerols(TAGs)in the colostrum of the OW/OB group(35894.43 mg/L)was higher than that of the normal weight(NW)group(26639.20 mg/L),suggesting that colostrum from OW/OB mothers could provide more energy to their infants.Further analysis of the fatty acid composition of TAGs revealed that elevated maternal body weight enhanced the concentration of TAGs containing saturated or n-6 fatty acids and shortened the carbon number of TAGs.Docosahexaenoic acid(DHA)/arachidonic acid(AA)/choline-containing lipids,such as DHA-containing TAGs,AA/DHA-containing phosphatidylethanolamine,and choline-containing phospholipids,were present in higher levels in the colostrum of OW/OB mothers than NW mothers.However,the concentrations of palmitic acid-containing TAGs,linoleic acid-containing TAGs,dihomo-γ-linolenic acid-containing TAGs,and polar lipids and the ratio of TAGs containing n-6 fatty acid/n-3 fatty acid were signifi cantly higher in the colostrum of OW/OB mothers than in that of NW mothers.The fatty acid composition and sphingoid bases of sphingolipids were also altered due to elevated body weight.In conclusion,OW/OB affects colostrum lipids with respect to composition,concentration,and percentage.Although the colostrum of healthy OW/OB mothers can provide suffi cient DHA/AA/choline-containing lipids to their infants,normalization of body weight and fat reserves should be considered as a strategy for highquality human milk lipids.