Intergenerational effects of a maternal high fat diet on feto-placental development in a rabbit model
Résumé
We have shown that the maternal administration of a high fat diet (H) in a rabbit model, before and during pregnancy, induces sex-dependent metabolic adaptations in the placenta from F1 generation. Here, we have focused on the consequences of this diet on the fetal biometry and placental gene expression in the F2 offspring. Rabbit females were fed with a control diet (C) or H diet from 10 weeks of age throughout pregnancy and lactation. After weaning, the female offspring (F1) received either a C diet (groups CC and HC) or an H diet (groups CH and HH). They were mated at 18 weeks of age. At 28 days of gestation, the fetuses (F2) and their placentas were collected. The fetal weight and the fetal to placenta-deciduas weight ratio were significantly lower in HH and CH compared to CC, whereas they increased in HC compared to CH. Relative gene expression of lipid metabolism indicated that FATP-4 mRNA was significantly higher in HC compared to CC. SLC2A1 mRNA, a glucose transporter, was significantly increased in HH compared to the other groups, whereas SLC2A3 expression was higher in CH compared to CC, HC and HH groups. SLC38A1 and SLC38A2, which are involved in the transfer of amino acids, were significantly higher in HC compared to CC. Moreover, SLC38A2 was increased in CH compared to CC. These data established that the grandmother’s and the mother’s diets interfered to disrupt nutrient exchanges in the placenta from the F2 generation.