›› 2013, Vol. 33 ›› Issue (2): 150-.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8115.2013.02.005

• Original article (Basic research) • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of chronic postnatal overnutrition-induced maternal obesity on metabolic features in offspring

CHEN Xiao-yi1, LI Ji-bin2, YE Ze-hui3, LIU Dan3, XIAO Xiao-qiu1,3   

  1. 1.Institute of Life Science, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China; 2.School of Public Health and Management, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China; 3.Ministry of Education of China Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, Children’s Hospital, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400014, China
  • Online:2013-02-28 Published:2013-03-07

Abstract:

Objective To investigate the effects of maternal obesity and high-fat diet on the metabolic features in offspring mice. Methods Female ICR mice with normal body weight (control group, or CTR group) and obese mice induced by chronic postnatal overnutrition (postnatal overnutrition group, or CPO group) were selected to mate with normal male ICR mice of the same age. Male litters in both groups were randomly divided into high-fat diet group (CTR-H group and CPO-H group) and standard chow diet group (CTR-S group and CPO-S group) at the end of breast feeding, and were managed with with high-fat diet and standard chow diet respectively till 5 months of age. The body weight, liver/body weight and abdominal fat/body weight of female mice were measured after breast feeding (21 d). Ten weeks after feeding with different diet, glucose intolerance test of offspring mice was performed, fasting blood glucose and serum insulin were examined, and insulin resistant index (IRI) was calculated. The histological features of abdominal tissues of offspring mice were observed with HE staining, and the areas of adipocytes were compared. Results The body weight, liver/body weight and abdominal fat/body weight of maternal mice in CPO group were significantly higher than those in CTR group (P<0.05). Ten weeks after feeding with different diet, there was impaired glucose tolerance in the offspring mice from CPO group, and that was more severe in CPO-H group. The fasting blood glucose and IRI in CTR-H group and CPO-H group were higher than those in CTR-S group and CPO-S group respectively (P<0.01). The serum insulin in CPO-H group was higher than those in the other groups (P<0.01). The areas of abdominal adipocytes in CTR-H group and CPO-H group were larger than those in CTR-S group and CPO-S group respectively (P<0.01), the area of abdominal adipocytes in CPO-S group was larger than that in CTR-S group (P<0.01), and the area of abdominal adipocytes in CPO-H group was larger than that in CTR-H group (P<0.01). Conclusion Maternal obesity may contribute to the development of obesity and metabolic dysfunctions in their offspring, and the impact may be exacerbated by high-fat diet feeding.

Key words: postnatal overnutrition, obesity, metabolic diseases