Maternal high-fat diet prevents developmental programming by early life stress
Language
EN
Article de revue
This item was published in
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2016, vol. 71, n° Supplément, p. 64
English Abstract
Background: Anxiety disorders and depression are well documented in subjects exposed to adverse childhood events. Recently, maternal obesity and maternal consumption of high-fat diets (HFD) have been also proposed as risk ...Read more >
Background: Anxiety disorders and depression are well documented in subjects exposed to adverse childhood events. Recently, maternal obesity and maternal consumption of high-fat diets (HFD) have been also proposed as risk factors for offspring mental health. Here, using an animal model in rats, we explored the combinatorial effects of perinatal exposure to HFD and stress in offspring. Methods: Dams were exposed to HFD throughout gestation and lactation and maternal separation (MS) was used to mimic early psychosocial stress. Results: In the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of pups, MS led to changes in the expression of several genes such as Bdnf (brain derived neurotrophic factor), 5HT-r1a (serotonin receptor 1a) and Rest4 (neuron-restrictive silencer element, repressor element 1, silencing transcription factor (Rest), splicing variant 4). Contrary to our hypothesis, perinatal HFD strongly attenuated the developmental alterations induced by MS. Furthermore, maternal HFD totally prevented the endophenotypes associated with MS in adulthood. Notably, perinatal HFD per se had no impact in the offspring. Finally, we show that HFD intake reduced anxiety and enhanced maternal care in stressed dams. Conclusions: Our results reveal a protective effect of fat on the immature brain in a context of early life stress, possibly through an anti-stress effect in dams.Read less <