Obesogenic Programming of Foetal Hepatic Metabolism by microRNAs

  • Laís Angélica de Paula Simino
  • Marcio Alberto Torsoni
  • Adriana Souza Torsoni
Chapter
First Online:
Part of the Nutrition and Health book series (NH)

Abstract

The liver is a multifunctional organ that regulates many vital physiological processes. Disruption of hepatic lipid metabolism is often associated with metabolic disturbances. Obesity is closely related to inflammation and insulin resistance and this condition leads to steatosis, considered the hepatic manifestation of metabolic syndrome. It has been proposed that more than a single hepatic insult is necessary to promote the progression of steatosis to steatohepatitis. In this context, exposure to deleterious conditions in uterus has been considered a determining factor in predisposing offspring to the development of liver diseases in later life and miRNA expression seems to participate in metabolic programming in the development of hepatic disorders in adult offspring. So far only few studies have conducted to evaluate miRNA modulation in the liver of offspring of obese dams. Many of these studies indicated that some microRNAs expressed in the liver, such as miR-122 and miR-370, are involved in the control of hepatic lipid metabolism and could be responsible for fatty liver development. Thereby these microRNAs could represent important therapeutical targets to dietary and pharmacologic interventions in the treatment and prevention of hepatic diseases in metabolically programmed offspring.

Keywords

microRNAs High-fat diet Hepatic metabolism Fatty liver Offspring Maternal programming Pregnancy Lactation Epigenetic 

Abbreviations

Acadvl

Acyl-CoA dehydrogenase, very long chain

Acc1

Acetyl-CoA carboxylase 1

Agpat1

Acylglycerol-3-phosphate O-acyltransferase 1

C/EBP-β

CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein-β

Cpt1-α

Carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1

DAG

Diacylglycerol

Dgat1

Diacylglycerol acyltransferase 1

Fas

Fatty acid synthase

G6pc

Glucose-6-phosphatase

GPAM

Glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase mitochondrial

GPAT

Glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase

HCC

Hepatocellular carcinoma

HFD

High-fat diet

HIC2

Hypermethylated in cancer 2

IKK

IkB kinase

Lclat1

Lysocardiolipin acyltransferase 1

MAG

Monoacylglycerol

MAP K1

Mitogen-activated protein kinase 1

MECP2

Methyl-CpG binding protein 2

miR/miRNA

microRNA

Mogat2

Monoacylglycerol acyltransferase 2

mTOR

Mechanistic target of rapamycin

NAFLD

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

NASH

Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis

ncRNA

Non-coding RNA

NFkB

Nuclear factor kappa B

p-JNK

c-Jun N-terminal kinase phosphorylated

Ppar-α

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor- α

Ppar-γ

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ

RISC

RNA-induced silencing complex

Scd1

Stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1

Srebp-1c

Sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1c

TAG

Triacylglycerol

TNFα

Tumor necrosis factor α

UTR

Untranslated region

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Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  • Laís Angélica de Paula Simino
    • 1
  • Marcio Alberto Torsoni
    • 1
  • Adriana Souza Torsoni
    • 1
  1. 1.Laboratory of Metabolic Disorders, School of Applied SciencesUniversity of CampinasLimeiraBrazil

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