Zhang Huaqi, Zhang Li, Zhao Xuenuo, Ma Yanzhen, Sun Dan, Bai Yixian, Liu Weiheng, Liang Xi, Liang Hui
Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Qingdao University, 308 Ningxia Road, Qingdao 266071, China.
Nutrients. 2024 Dec 19;16(24):4377. doi: 10.3390/nu16244377.
Proactively preventing postpartum weight retention (PPWR) is one of the effective intervention strategies to reduce the occurrence of obesity in women. Population studies have shown that serum folate levels are closely related to body weight. The regulation of folic acid on lipid metabolism has been fully confirmed in both in vivo and in vitro studies. For many years, folic acid supplementation has been widely used in periconceptional women due to its role in preventing fetal neural tube defects. However, whether folic acid supplementation prior to and throughout pregnancy exerts preventive effects on PPWR remains uncertain. This study aims to investigate the preventive effect of folic acid on PPWR in rats and further explore the underlying mechanisms.
In this study, pregnant rats were administered one of the dietary schedules: control diet (CON), high-fat diet (HF), control diet combined with folic acid (FA) and high-fat diet combined with folic acid (HF + FA).
We discovered that folic acid supplementation inhibited high-fat diet-induced elevations in body weight, visceral fat weight, liver weight, hepatic lipid levels and serum lipid levels at 1 week post-weaning (PW). Western blot analysis showed that folic acid supplementation inhibited the expression of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-specific proteins including GRP78, PERK, eIF2α, IRE1α, XBP1 and ATF6, subsequently decreasing the expression of proteins related to lipid synthesis including SREBP-1c, ACC1 and FAS.
In conclusion, folic acid supplementation prior to and throughout pregnancy exerts preventive effects on high-fat diet-induced PPWR in rats, and the mechanism is associated with the inhibition of ER stress-mediated lipogenesis signaling pathways in the liver. Folic acid supplementation may serve as a potential strategy for preventing PPWR. In the future, the effectiveness of folic acid in PPWR prevention can be further verified by population studies.
积极预防产后体重滞留（PPWR）是减少女性肥胖发生的有效干预策略之一。人群研究表明，血清叶酸水平与体重密切相关。叶酸对脂质代谢的调节在体内和体外研究中均已得到充分证实。多年来，由于叶酸在预防胎儿神经管缺陷方面的作用，其补充剂已广泛应用于孕前女性。然而，孕期前后补充叶酸是否对PPWR具有预防作用仍不确定。本研究旨在探讨叶酸对大鼠PPWR的预防作用，并进一步探究其潜在机制。
在本研究中，给孕鼠喂食以下饮食方案之一：对照饮食（CON）、高脂饮食（HF）、对照饮食联合叶酸（FA）以及高脂饮食联合叶酸（HF + FA）。
我们发现，补充叶酸可抑制高脂饮食诱导的断奶后1周（PW）时体重、内脏脂肪重量、肝脏重量、肝脏脂质水平和血清脂质水平的升高。蛋白质免疫印迹分析表明，补充叶酸可抑制内质网（ER）应激特异性蛋白的表达，包括GRP78、PERK、eIF2α、IRE1α、XBP1和ATF6，随后降低与脂质合成相关的蛋白的表达，包括SREBP-1c、ACC1和FAS。
总之，孕期前后补充叶酸对高脂饮食诱导的大鼠PPWR具有预防作用，其机制与抑制肝脏中ER应激介导的脂肪生成信号通路有关。补充叶酸可能是预防PPWR的一种潜在策略。未来，可通过人群研究进一步验证叶酸在预防PPWR方面的有效性。
