van Heijningen Steffen, Karapetsas Giorgio, van der Beek Eline M, van Dijk Gertjan, Schipper Lidewij
Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands.
Department of Pediatrics, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands.
Front Neurosci. 2022 Apr 29;16:838711. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2022.838711. eCollection 2022.
Breastfeeding (duration) can be positively associated with infant growth outcomes as well as improved cognitive functions during childhood and later life stages. (Prolonged) exposure to optimal lipid quantity and quality, i.e., the supramolecular structure of lipids, in mammalian milk, may contribute to these beneficial effects through nutritional early-life programming. In this pre-clinical study, we exposed male C57BL/6J mice from post-natal Days 16 to 42 (i.e., directly following normal lactation), to a diet with large lipid droplets coated with bovine milk fat globule membrane-derived phospholipids, which mimic more closely the supramolecular structure of lipid droplets in mammalian milk. We investigated whether exposure to this diet could affect growth and brain development-related parameters. As these outcomes are also known to be affected by the post-weaning social environment in mice, we included both individually housed and pair-wise housed animals and studied whether effects of diet were modulated by the social environment. After Day 42, all the animals were fed standard semi-synthetic rodent diet. Growth and body composition were assessed, and the mice were subjected to various behavioral tests. Individual housing attenuated adolescent growth, reduced femur length, and increased body fat mass. Adult social interest was increased due to individual housing, while cognitive and behavioral alterations as a result of different housing conditions were modest. The diet increased adolescent growth and femur length, increased lean body mass, reduced adolescent anxiety, and improved adult cognitive performance. These effects of diet exposure were comparable between individually and socially housed mice. Hence, early life exposure to a diet with lipid droplets that mimic the supramolecular structure of those in mammalian milk may improve adolescent growth and alters brain function in both socially and individually housed mice. These findings suggest that lipid structure in infant milk formula may be a relevant target for nutritional solutions, targeting both healthy infants and infants facing growth challenges.
母乳喂养（持续时间）与婴儿生长结果呈正相关，同时在儿童期及以后的生命阶段能改善认知功能。在哺乳动物乳汁中，长时间接触最佳的脂质数量和质量，即脂质的超分子结构，可能通过营养早期编程对这些有益影响有所贡献。在这项临床前研究中，我们将出生后第16天至42天的雄性C57BL/6J小鼠（即正常哺乳期后直接进行实验）暴露于一种含有包裹着牛乳脂肪球膜衍生磷脂的大脂质滴的饮食中，这种饮食更接近哺乳动物乳汁中脂质滴的超分子结构。我们研究了接触这种饮食是否会影响生长和与大脑发育相关的参数。由于已知这些结果也会受到小鼠断奶后社会环境的影响，我们纳入了单独饲养和成对饲养的动物，并研究饮食的影响是否会受到社会环境的调节。在第42天后，所有动物都喂食标准的半合成啮齿动物饮食。评估了生长和身体组成，并对小鼠进行了各种行为测试。单独饲养会减弱青春期生长、缩短股骨长度并增加体脂量。单独饲养会增加成年后的社交兴趣，而不同饲养条件导致的认知和行为改变则较为适度。这种饮食增加了青春期生长和股骨长度，增加了瘦体重，减轻了青春期焦虑，并改善了成年后的认知表现。饮食暴露的这些影响在单独饲养和群居饲养的小鼠中相当。因此，生命早期接触一种脂质滴饮食，该饮食模仿哺乳动物乳汁中脂质滴的超分子结构，可能会改善青春期生长，并改变单独饲养和群居饲养小鼠的脑功能。这些发现表明，婴儿配方奶粉中的脂质结构可能是营养解决方案的一个相关目标，适用于健康婴儿和面临生长挑战的婴儿。
