Diet enriched in saturated fatty acids induces liver oxidative stress and elicits inflammatory pathways prior to metabolic disruption in perinatal protein undernutrition.

The impact of diets high in saturated fatty acids in individuals who have undergone maternal protein restriction is not clear. Here, we tested the hypothesis that a saturated fatty acid-enriched hyperlipidic diet (HL) affects liver expression of genes of the redox balance and inflammatory pathway in postweaning rat offspring subjected to maternal protein restriction. Pregnant Wistar rats received either a control (C; 19% protein) or low protein (LP; 8% protein) diet during gestation and lactation. At weaning, pups received either C or HL diets up to 90 days of life. The LP+HL group showed an upregulation of transcription of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (+48%) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator α (+96%) compared with the LP+C group (P < .05), respectively. Similarly, gene expression of the markers of inflammation, nuclear factor-kappa B1 (+194%) and tumor necrosis factor-α (+192%), was enhanced (P < .05). Although other antioxidant enzymes were not modified in gene expression, catalase (CAT) was 66% higher in LP+HL compared with LP+C. In contrast, CAT protein content in the liver was 50% lower in LP groups compared with C, and superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) was twice as high in LP groups compared with C. Postweaning HL after maternal protein restriction induces hepatic metabolic adaptation characterized by enhanced oxidative stress, unbalanced expression in the antioxidant enzymes SOD1, SOD2 and CAT, and activation of inflammatory pathways but does not impact circulating markers of lipid metabolism and liver function.