Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Tokushima University, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan.
Department of Renal and Genitourinary Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-8648, Japan.
Nutrients. 2023 Jun 16;15(12):2768. doi: 10.3390/nu15122768.
Changes in the activities of some metabolic factors have been suggested to increase the risk of conditions associated with the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD). We examined changes in oxytocin (OT), a metabolic factor, and OT receptor (OTR) mRNA levels throughout the developmental period in rats of intrauterine undernutrition. Pregnant rats were divided into two groups: a maternal normal nutrition (mNN) and maternal undernutrition (mUN) group. Serum OT concentrations and hypothalamic mRNA levels of OT and OTR were measured in both offspring at various postnatal stages. Both offspring showed significant increases in serum OT concentrations during the neonatal period, significant reductions around the pubertal period, and significant increases in adulthood. Hypothalamic OT mRNA expression levels gradually increased from the neonatal to pubertal period and decreased in adulthood in both offspring. In the pre-weaning period, hypothalamic OT mRNA expression levels were significantly lower in the mUN offspring than in the mNN offspring. In the mUN offspring, hypothalamic OTR mRNA expression levels transiently increased during the neonatal period, decreased around the pubertal period, and increased again in adulthood, whereas transient changes were not detected in mNN offspring. These changes could affect nutritional and metabolic regulation systems in later life and play a role in the mechanisms underlying DOHaD.
一些代谢因素的活性变化被认为会增加与健康和疾病的发育起源（DOHaD）相关的疾病的风险。我们研究了宫内营养不良的大鼠在整个发育过程中代谢因子催产素（OT）及其受体（OTR）mRNA 水平的变化。将怀孕的大鼠分为两组：正常营养的母体（mNN）和营养不良的母体（mUN）组。在各个产后阶段测量了两组后代的血清 OT 浓度和下丘脑 OT 和 OTR 的 mRNA 水平。两种后代在新生儿期血清 OT 浓度均显著升高，青春期前后显著降低，成年期显著升高。下丘脑 OT mRNA 表达水平从新生儿期到青春期逐渐增加，成年期下降。在断奶前，mUN 后代的下丘脑 OT mRNA 表达水平明显低于 mNN 后代。在 mUN 后代中，新生儿期下丘脑 OTR mRNA 表达水平短暂增加，青春期前后减少，成年期再次增加，而 mNN 后代未检测到短暂变化。这些变化可能会影响生命后期的营养和代谢调节系统，并在 DOHaD 的机制中发挥作用。
