Institute for Liver and Digestive Health, University College London, London NW3 2PF, UK.
Division of Women's Health, Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine, King's College London, London SE1 7EH, UK.
Nutrients. 2017 Sep 20;9(9):1041. doi: 10.3390/nu9091041.
Maternal obesity predisposes offspring to metabolic dysfunction and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD). Melanocortin-4 receptor (Mc4r)-deficient mouse models exhibit obesity during adulthood. Here, we aim to determine the influence of the Mc4r gene on the liver of mice subjected to perinatal diet-induced obesity. Female mice heterozygous for Mc4r fed an obesogenic or a control diet for 5 weeks were mated with heterozygous males, with the same diet continued throughout pregnancy and lactation, generating four offspring groups: control wild type (C_wt), control knockout (C_KO), obese wild type (Ob_wt), and obese knockout (Ob_KO). At 21 days, offspring were genotyped, weaned onto a control diet, and sacrificed at 6 months old. Offspring phenotypic characteristics, plasma biochemical profile, liver histology, and hepatic gene expression were analyzed. Mc4r_ko offspring showed higher body, liver and adipose tissue weights respect to the wild type animals. Histological examination showed mild hepatic steatosis in offspring group C_KO. The expression of hepatic genes involved in regulating inflammation, fibrosis, and immune cell infiltration were upregulated by the absence of the Mc4r gene. These results demonstrate that maternal obesogenic feeding during the perinatal period programs offspring obesity development with involvement of the Mc4r system.
母体肥胖使后代易患代谢功能障碍和非酒精性脂肪性肝病(NAFLD)。黑皮质素-4 受体(Mc4r)缺陷型小鼠模型在成年后表现出肥胖。在这里,我们旨在确定 Mc4r 基因对处于围产期饮食诱导肥胖的小鼠肝脏的影响。杂合子 Mc4r 喂养肥胖或对照饮食 5 周的雌性小鼠与杂合子雄性小鼠交配,整个妊娠和哺乳期均继续喂养相同的饮食,产生了四个后代组:对照野生型(C_wt)、对照敲除型(C_KO)、肥胖野生型(Ob_wt)和肥胖敲除型(Ob_KO)。在 21 天时,对后代进行基因型鉴定,然后断奶至对照饮食,并在 6 个月大时处死。分析了后代的表型特征、血浆生化谱、肝脏组织学和肝基因表达。Mc4r_ko 后代的体重、肝脏和脂肪组织重量均高于野生型动物。组织学检查显示 C_KO 组后代有轻度肝脂肪变性。缺乏 Mc4r 基因可上调参与调节炎症、纤维化和免疫细胞浸润的肝基因表达。这些结果表明,围产期母体肥胖饮食会使后代肥胖发展,涉及 Mc4r 系统。