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A maternal high-fat/low-fiber diet impairs glucose tolerance and induces the formation of glycolytic muscle fibers in neonatal offspring

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Abstract

Purpose

In our previous study, the maternal high-fat/low-fiber (HF-LF) diet was suggested to induce metabolic disorders and placental dysfunction of the dam, but the effects of this diet on glucose metabolism of neonatal offspring remain largely unknown. Here, a neonatal pig model was used to evaluate the effects of maternal HF-LF diet during pregnancy on glucose tolerance, transition of skeletal muscle fiber types, and mitochondrial function in offspring.

Methods

A total of 66 pregnant gilts (Guangdong Small-ear Spotted pig) at day 60 of gestation were randomly divided into two groups: control group (CON group; 2.86% crude fat, 9.37% crude fiber), and high-fat/low-fiber diet group (HF-LF group; 5.99% crude fat, 4.13% crude fiber).

Results

The maternal HF-LF diet was shown to impair the glucose tolerance of neonatal offspring, downregulate the protein level of slow-twitch fiber myosin heavy chain I (MyHC I), and upregulate the protein levels of fast-twitch fiber myosin heavy chain IIb (MyHC IIb) and IIx (MyHC IIx) in soleus muscle. Additionally, compared with the CON group, the HF-LF offspring showed inhibition of insulin signaling pathway and decrease in mitochondrial function in liver and soleus muscle.

Conclusion

Maternal HF-LF diet during pregnancy impairs glucose tolerance, induces the formation of glycolytic muscle fibers, and decreases the hepatic and muscular mitochondrial function in neonatal piglets.

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Availability of data and materials

The datasets are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

The present work was jointly supported by the Project of National Natural Science Foundation China (No. 31902165 and 31790411), Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (2019A1515011443), and Innovation Team Project in Universities of Guangdong Province (2017KCXTD002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition Control, National Engineering Research Center for Breeding Swine Industry, Institute of Subtropical Animal Nutrition and Feed, College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, Guangdong, China

    Chengjun Hu, Yunyu Yang, Minxia Chen, Xiangyu Hao, Shuqi Wang, Yulong Yin & Chengquan Tan

  2. Tropical Crops Genetic Resources Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Haikou, 571101, China

    Chengjun Hu

  3. National Engineering Laboratory for Pollution Control and Waste Utilization in Livestock and Poultry Production, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha, 410125, Hunan, China

    Yulong Yin

  4. Guangdong Yihao Foodstuffs Co., Ltd, Guangzhou, 510642, Guangdong, China

    Linfang Yang

Authors
  1. Chengjun Hu
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  2. Yunyu Yang
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  3. Minxia Chen
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  4. Xiangyu Hao
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  5. Shuqi Wang
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  7. Yulong Yin
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  8. Chengquan Tan
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Contributions

HCJ and TCQ designed the study; HCJ, HXY, WSQ and YLF acquired the data; HCJ, YYY, CMX, HXY, and WSQ carried out the experiments and data analysis; HCJ, TCQ, and YYL drafted and revised the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chengquan Tan.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethical statement

The experimental design and procedure presented in this study were reviewed and approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee of the Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences under ethic approval number ISA-2018-046.

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All authors approved the final manuscript.

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Hu, C., Yang, Y., Chen, M. et al. A maternal high-fat/low-fiber diet impairs glucose tolerance and induces the formation of glycolytic muscle fibers in neonatal offspring. Eur J Nutr 60, 2709–2718 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-020-02461-4

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