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Effect of high-fat diet on rat myometrium during pregnancy—isolated myometrial mitochondria are not affected

  • Muscle physiology
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An Erratum to this article was published on 14 June 2017

Abstract

Laboring women with elevated body mass index (BMI) have an increased risk of inefficient uterine labor contractions, and despite the significance of mitochondria in the production of energy to drive uterine contractions, mitochondrial function in the myometrium with reference to the BMI has not been explored. The objective of this study was to determine whether obesity prior to and during gestation affects oxidative capacity and/or morphology of mitochondria in the myometrium at term in an animal model. Rat dams were fed for 47 days prior to impregnation and during gestation with either (1) a regular chow diet, (2) a low-fat high-carbohydrate diet, or (3) a high-fat low-carbohydrate diet (n = 10 in each group). On day 20 of gestation, corresponding to term pregnancy, total hysterectomy was performed with subsequent examination of the function and morphology of myometrial mitochondria. Body composition was regularly assessed by quantitative magnetic resonance imaging, and blood sampling was done prior to diet assignment, impregnation, and hysterectomy. Dams on the high-fat low-carbohydrate diet achieved higher fat percentage compared to rats on the regular chow diet (p < 0.05). Maximal oxygen consumption, phosphate/oxygen ratio, or the amount of mitochondria per gram of myometrium did not differ between the three feeding groups. Electron microscopic examinations did not reveal any morphological differences in mitochondria between groups; however, a previously undescribed subsarcolemmal localization of the mitochondria in the myocyte was identified. We did not find evidence of altered myometrial mitochondrial function or morphology in this animal model of obesity prior to and during pregnancy.

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Abbreviations

BMI:

Body mass index

CS:

Citrate syntase

CH:

Chow

FFA:

Free fatty acid

HC:

High-carbohydrate low-fat

HF:

High-fat low-carbohydrate

HOMA-IR:

Homeostatic assessment of insulin resistance

mtDNA:

Mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid

mtDNA/gDNA:

Mitochondrial-to-genomic DNA ratio

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Acknowledgments

We thank Mr. Ib Therkelsen and Mrs. Lilian Helene Lund Hansen, Section for Cellular and Metabolic Research, for expert technical assistance during the conductance of the experiments. We also thank Mrs. Merethe Nisted, Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology, for expert technical assistance in blood sampling during the feeding period. We also thank Ms. Zhila Nikrozi, Core Facility for Integrated Microscopy, for expert technical assistance in section preparation for electron microscopy. Finally, we thank Associate Professor Parri Wentzel and Professor Ulf Ericksson, Uppsala University, Department of Medical Cell Biology, Biomedical Center, for kind and sound advices on rat model choice and mating technique.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Funding

The study was supported by The Danish Strategic Research Council (09-067124 and 09-059921; Center for fetal programming), The Holger Rabitz and hustru Doris Mary, born Philipp’s Memorial Foundation, and The Classenske Jubilee Foundation. The study is part of Christiane Gam’s PhD project funded by the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, and by the PhD program of Diabetes and Metabolism, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cellular and Metabolic Research Section, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 3, 2200, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Christiane Marie Bourgin Folke Gam, Ole Hartvig Mortensen & Bjørn Quistorff

  2. Core Facility for Integrated Microscopy, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 3, 2200, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Klaus Qvortrup

  3. Center for Pregnant Women with Diabetes, Department of Obstetrics, Rigshospitalet, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 9, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Christiane Marie Bourgin Folke Gam & Peter Damm

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  1. Christiane Marie Bourgin Folke Gam
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  2. Ole Hartvig Mortensen
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Correspondence to Christiane Marie Bourgin Folke Gam.

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An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00424-017-2011-1.

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Gam, C.M.B.F., Mortensen, O.H., Qvortrup, K. et al. Effect of high-fat diet on rat myometrium during pregnancy—isolated myometrial mitochondria are not affected. Pflugers Arch - Eur J Physiol 467, 1539–1549 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00424-014-1599-7

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