Effects of Maternal Obesity on Fetal Programming: Molecular Approaches

Abstract

Maternal obesity has become a worldwide epidemic. Obesity and a high-fat diet have been shown to have deleterious effects on fetal programming, predisposing offspring to adverse cardiometabolic and neurodevelopmental outcomes. Although large epidemiological studies have shown an association between maternal obesity and adverse outcomes for offspring, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Molecular approaches have played a key role in elucidating the mechanistic underpinnings of fetal malprogramming in the setting of maternal obesity. These approaches include, among others, characterization of epigenetic modifications, microRNA expression, the gut microbiome, the transcriptome, and evaluation of specific mRNA expression via quantitative reverse transcription polmerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) in fetuses and offspring of obese females. This work will review the data from animal models and human fluids/cells regarding the effects of maternal obesity on fetal and offspring neurodevelopment and cardiometabolic outcomes, with a particular focus on molecular approaches.

Figure 1.

Molecular techniques provide insight into fetal organ developmental programming in animal models of maternal obesity. RT-qPCR, quantitative reverse transcription PCR. (Data for the figure from the following references: ¹Mischke et al. 2013; ²Bruce et al. 2009; ³Vucetic et al. 2010; ⁴Aagaard-Tillery et al. 2008; ⁵Suter et al. 2011; ⁶Borengasser et al. 2014; ⁷Zhang et al. 2009; ⁸Benatti et al. 2014; ⁹Maloyan et al. 2013; ¹⁰Elahi and Matata 2014; ¹¹Yan et al. 2013; ¹²Borengasser et al. 2013; ¹³Masuyama and Hiramatsu 2012; ¹⁴Ma et al. 2014; ¹⁵Myles et al. 2013; ¹⁶Ng et al. 2014; ¹⁷Cerf et al. 2006; ¹⁸Cerf et al. 2009; ¹⁹Jones et al. 2009; ²⁰Zhu et al. 2010; ²¹Shankar et al. 2011; ²²Stachowiak et al. 2013b; ²³Moraes et al. 2009; ²⁴Vucetic et al. 2010; ²⁵Franco et al. 2012; ²⁶Suter et al. 2012.)

Figure 2.

Molecular techniques provide insight into fetal developmental programming using human fluids and tissues. FCM-FISH, fluorescent in situ hybridization coupled with flow cytometry; RT-qPCR, quantitative reverse transcription PCR. (Data for the figure from the following references: ¹Soubry et al. 2013; ²Ghaffari et al. 2014; ³Gemma et al. 2009; ⁴Thakali et al. 2014; ⁵Guénard et al. 2013; ⁶Edlow et al. 2014; ⁷Nardelli et al. 2014; ⁸Basu et al. 2011; ⁹Haghiac et al. 2014; ¹⁰Collado et al. 2008; ¹¹Collado et al. 2010; ¹²Challier et al. 2008; ¹³Tsai et al. 2015; ¹⁴Oliva et al. 2012.)