Maternal exercise and high-fat diet affect hypothalamic neural projections in rat offspring in a sex-specific manner.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of maternal high-fat (HF) diet and exercise during gestation and lactation on hypothalamic neural projection development in the offspring. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were fed a CHOW or HF diet during gestation and lactation, and further divided into two subgroups: voluntary exercised and sedentary. Offspring's brains and tissue were collected at weaning and 16 weeks of age. Maternal exercise downregulated dams' body weight and food intake during lactation, but failed to normalize increased fat weight, plasma and milk leptin levels of HF dams at weaning. Maternal HF diet significantly increased offspring's body weight, adipose depots, plasma insulin, and leptin at weaning and had long-term effect on body weight of male offspring, while maternal exercise decreased offspring's body weight from 3 to 5 weeks of age in both sexes. At weaning, maternal exercise decreased αMSH fiber density and maternal HF diet impaired agouti-related peptide fiber density in the paraventricular nucleus of hypothalamus of male pups, while maternal HF diet disrupted αMSH fiber density in the paraventricular nucleus of hypothalamus of female pups. The impaired αMSH fiber density was consistent with reduced STAT3 signaling in the arcuate nucleus of hypothalamus, while the reduced agouti-related peptide fiber density was consistent with reduced ERK1/2 signaling in the arcuate nucleus of hypothalamus. The impaired hypothalamic projections were compensated in adulthood in both sexes. Our findings suggest that maternal HF diet and exercise exerts different effects on hypothalamic neural projections development through distinct signaling pathways in a sex-specific manner.

Song L ，Cui J ，Wang R ，Wang N ，Yan J ，Sun B ... -  《-》

Large litter rearing improves leptin sensitivity and hypothalamic appetite markers in offspring of rat dams fed high-fat diet during pregnancy and lactation.

Sun B ，Song L ，Tamashiro KL ，Moran TH ，Yan J ... -  《-》

Early postweaning exercise improves central leptin sensitivity in offspring of rat dams fed high-fat diet during pregnancy and lactation.

Sun B ，Liang NC ，Ewald ER ，Purcell RH ，Boersma GJ ，Yan J ，Moran TH ，Tamashiro KL ... -  《-》

Maternal high-fat diet during gestation or suckling differentially affects offspring leptin sensitivity and obesity.

Sun B ，Purcell RH ，Terrillion CE ，Yan J ，Moran TH ，Tamashiro KL ... -  《-》

Maternal exercise during gestation and lactation decreases high-fat diet preference by altering central reward system gene expression in adult female offspring from high-fat fed dams.

Exposure to maternal high-fat (HF) diet during gestation and lactation alters adult offspring's feeding behavior and diet preference. However, the impact of maternal exercise on offspring's diet preference and reward system development is less studied. In this study, we investigate the effect of perinatal maternal exercise on the development of diet preference, dopamine- and opioid-related gene expression in the central reward system in female offspring from HF-fed Sprague-Dawley rat dams. We found maternal HF diet did not alter adult offspring HF preference, but influenced offspring's dopamine and opioid system both at weaning and in adulthood, and these offspring retained higher body weight in adulthood. However, offspring from dams exposed to both HF diet and exercise during gestation and lactation had normalized body weight, decreased fat mass and lower HF-diet preference but increased energy intake in adulthood. The dopamine- and opioid-related gene expression in central reward system and POMC expression in hypothalamus was elevated in these adult offspring. We conclude that maternal exercise during gestation and lactation can potentially overcome the negative effects of perinatal exposure to HF diet in female offspring by altering their diet preference, central reward system signaling and hypothalamus neuropeptide expression.

Song L ，Cui J ，Wang N ，Wang R ，Yan J ，Sun B ... -  《-》