Transcriptional analysis of adipose tissue during development reveals depot-specific responsiveness to maternal dietary supplementation.

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) undergoes pronounced changes after birth coincident with the loss of the BAT-specific uncoupling protein (UCP)1 and rapid fat growth. The extent to which this adaptation may vary between anatomical locations remains unknown, or whether the process is sensitive to maternal dietary supplementation. We, therefore, conducted a data mining based study on the major fat depots (i.e. epicardial, perirenal, sternal (which possess UCP1 at 7 days), subcutaneous and omental) (that do not possess UCP1) of young sheep during the first month of life. Initially we determined what effect adding 3% canola oil to the maternal diet has on mitochondrial protein abundance in those depots which possessed UCP1. This demonstrated that maternal dietary supplementation delayed the loss of mitochondrial proteins, with the amount of cytochrome C actually being increased. Using machine learning algorithms followed by weighted gene co-expression network analysis, we demonstrated that each depot could be segregated into a unique and concise set of modules containing co-expressed genes involved in adipose function. Finally using lipidomic analysis following the maternal dietary intervention, we confirmed the perirenal depot to be most responsive. These insights point at new research avenues for examining interventions to modulate fat development in early life.

Impact of maternal dietary fat supplementation during gestation upon skeletal muscle in neonatal pigs.

BACKGROUND: Maternal diet during pregnancy can modulate skeletal muscle development of the offspring. Previous studies in pigs have indicated that a fat supplemented diet during pregnancy can improve piglet outcome, however, this is in contrast to human studies suggesting adverse effects of saturated fats during pregnancy. This study aimed to investigate the impact of a fat supplemented (palm oil) "high fat" diet on skeletal muscle development in a porcine model. Histological and metabolic features of the biceps femoris muscle obtained from 7-day-old piglets born to sows assigned to either a commercial (C, n = 7) or to an isocaloric fat supplementation diet ("high fat" HF, n = 7) during pregnancy were assessed. RESULTS: Offspring exposed to a maternal HF diet demonstrated enhanced muscular development, reflected by an increase in fractional growth rate, rise in myofibre cross-sectional area, increased storage of glycogen and reduction in lipid staining of myofibres. Although both groups had similar intramuscular protein and triglyceride concentrations, the offspring born to HF mothers had a higher proportion of arachidonic acid (C20:4n6) and a reduction in α-linolenic acid (C18:3n3) compared to C group offspring. The HF group muscle also exhibited a higher ratio of C20:3n6 to C20:4n6 and total n-6 to n-3 in conjunction with up-regulation of genes associated with free fatty acid uptake and biogenesis. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, a HF gestational diet accelerates the maturation of offspring biceps femoris muscle, reflected in increased glycolytic metabolism and fibre cross sectional area, differences accompanied with a potential resetting of myofibre nutrient uptake.