Maternal obesity and developmental programming of metabolic disorders in offspring: evidence from animal models

Abstract

The incidence of obesity and overweight has reached epidemic proportions in the developed world as well as in those countries transitioning to first world economies, and this represents a major global health problem. Concern is rising over the rapid increases in childhood obesity and metabolic disease that will translate into later adult obesity. Although an obesogenic nutritional environment and increasingly sedentary lifestyle contribute to our risk of developing obesity, a growing body of evidence links early life nutritional adversity to the development of long-term metabolic disorders. In particular, the increasing prevalence of maternal obesity and excess maternal weight gain has been associated with a heightened risk of obesity development in offspring in addition to an increased risk of pregnancy-related complications. The mechanisms that link maternal obesity to obesity in offspring and the level of gene-environment interactions are not well understood, but the early life environment may represent a critical window for which intervention strategies could be developed to curb the current obesity epidemic. This paper will discuss the various animal models of maternal overnutrition and their importance in our understanding of the mechanisms underlying altered obesity risk in offspring.

Figure 1

Basic schematic outlining consequences of a maternal obesogenic environment on the health and well-being of offspring. These effects can be modified by the timing and duration of exposure to the obesogenic environment as well as gender and composition of the HF diet (e.g., fat source). Programming effects can be further exacerbated in the presence of a suboptimal postweaning nutritional environment.

Figure 2

Total body fat mass (%) as quantified by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) in adult (day 150) male and female rat offspring of HF-fed mothers. CON = offspring of control pregnancies, MHF = offspring of mothers fed an HF diet from weaning and throughout pregnancy and lactation, PLHF mothers fed a control diet until conception, and an HF diet throughout pregnancy and lactation. Note that a preconceptional HF diet did not confer an altered risk for obesity development over that of HF exposure during pregnancy and lactation alone. Data are means ± SEM, n = 10-11 per group, *P < 0.05 versus CON. Modified from Howie et al. [29].