Maternal Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and High-Fat Diet Influenced Hepatic Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Profile in the Offspring of C57BL/6J Mice

Scope

This research examines the effects of maternal high-fat (HF) diet and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) on offspring lipid metabolism and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) profile.

Methods and results

GDM is induced using the insulin receptor antagonist S961. Weaning offspring are categorized into HF-GDM, HF-CON, NC-GDM, and NC-CON groups based on maternal diet or GDM. Adult offspring are then grouped into NC-CON-NC, NC-CON-HF, NC-GDM-NC, NC-GDM-HF, HF-CON-NC, HF-CON-HF, HF-GDM-NC, and HF-GDM-HF according to dietary patterns. Gas chromatography determines PUFA composition. Western blot assesses PI3K/Akt signaling pathway-related protein expression.

Feeding a normal chow diet until adulthood improves the distribution of hepatic PUFA during weaning across the four groups. PI3K expression is upregulated during weaning in HF-CON and HF-GDM, particularly in HF-CON-NC and HF-GDM-NC, compared to NC-CON-NC during adulthood. Akt expression increases in NC-GDM-NC after weaning with a normal diet. The hepatic PUFA profile in HF-CON-HF significantly distinguishes among the maternal generation health groups. Maternal HF diet exacerbates the combined impact of maternal GDM and offspring HF diet on hepatic PUFA and PI3K/Akt signaling pathway-related proteins during adulthood.

Conclusions

Early exposure to HF diets and GDM affects hepatic PUFA profiles and PI3K/Akt signaling pathway protein expression in male offspring during weaning and adulthood.