Chen Yu-Jen, Yu Hong-Ren, Tsai Ching-Chou, Tiao Mao-Meng
An Nan Hospital, China Medical University, Tainan, Taiwan.
Department of Pediatrics, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, 123 TaPei road, Kaohsiung, NiaoSung, Taiwan.
Apoptosis. 2025 Apr 11. doi: 10.1007/s10495-025-02111-2.
Prenatal exposure to a high-fat diet (HFD) or microplastics can impact liver fat accumulation in offspring. This study investigates the protective effects of prenatal melatonin on liver injury in male pups resulting from maternal exposure to a HFD and microplastics. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were fed either an HFD or a normal chow diet, with some groups exposed to microplastics alone or in combination with melatonin. Male pups were evaluated on postnatal day 7. Results indicated that pups in the HFD-microplastics group (HFD-Mi) exhibited increased liver lipid accumulation (observed in histological staining), apoptosis (elevated cleaved caspase 3, phospho-AKT, and TUNEL staining), inflammation (higher IL- 6 and TNF-α), and oxidative stress (elevated malondialdehyde). Conversely, melatonin treatment (HFD-Mi + M) significantly reduced these effects, including lipid accumulation, apoptosis, and inflammation, while enhancing antioxidant enzyme glutathione peroxidase activity and improving lipid metabolism (reduced SREBP- 1 expression). These findings suggest that prenatal melatonin mitigates liver injury caused by maternal HFD and microplastics through its anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, and lipid-regulating properties, underscoring its potential hepatoprotective role.
产前暴露于高脂饮食（HFD）或微塑料会影响后代肝脏脂肪堆积。本研究调查了产前褪黑素对母体暴露于HFD和微塑料所导致的雄性幼崽肝脏损伤的保护作用。将怀孕的斯普拉格-道利大鼠喂食HFD或正常食物，部分组单独暴露于微塑料或与褪黑素联合暴露。在出生后第7天对雄性幼崽进行评估。结果表明，HFD-微塑料组（HFD-Mi）的幼崽表现出肝脏脂质堆积增加（组织学染色观察到）、细胞凋亡（裂解的半胱天冬酶3、磷酸化AKT升高以及TUNEL染色）、炎症（更高的IL-6和TNF-α）和氧化应激（丙二醛升高）。相反，褪黑素治疗（HFD-Mi + M）显著减轻了这些影响，包括脂质堆积、细胞凋亡和炎症，同时增强了抗氧化酶谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶的活性并改善了脂质代谢（SREBP-1表达降低）。这些发现表明，产前褪黑素通过其抗炎、抗氧化和脂质调节特性减轻了母体HFD和微塑料引起的肝脏损伤，突出了其潜在的肝脏保护作用。
