Paz Henry A, Shashank C G, Buddha Lasya, Lam Tian, Zhang Taylor, Zhong Ying, Sikes James D, Porter Craig, Landes Reid D, Morello Roy, Wankhade Umesh D
Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, United States.
Department of Pediatrics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, United States.
Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2025 Jun 24;16:1617262. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1617262. eCollection 2025.
Ambient temperature significantly influences physiological and metabolic processes in rodents, affecting obesity and related disorders. Mice housed below thermoneutral temperatures exhibit increased energy expenditure and sympathetic-driven brown fat activation, whereas thermoneutral housing (~30°C) reduces these responses. This study aimed to determine whether short-term exposure to altered housing temperatures before and during pregnancy induces lasting changes in maternal adipose tissue. We hypothesized that even brief exposure during this critical window could cause persistent structural and molecular alterations in adipose tissue.
Female C57BL/6J mice were housed at cold (CE, 8°C), thermoneutral (TN, 30°C), or standard room temperature (RT, 22°C) conditions for one week before and throughout pregnancy. All mice were returned to RT post-delivery. Phenotypic assessments-including glucose tolerance, energy expenditure, histology, and proteomics-were performed after lactation.
Temperature exposure did not significantly affect litter size or pup survival. CE-exposed mice showed increased total body weight driven by lean mass gains and reduced fat mass. Adipose tissue showed smaller adipocytes in iWAT and increased vascularity in BAT, though no persistent changes in thermogenic gene expression or glucose homeostasis were observed. Proteomic analysis of iWAT identified 38 differentially expressed proteins, with enrichment of pathways related to mitochondrial function and mTOR signaling.
Short-term cold exposure induced lasting histological and proteomic changes in iWAT and BAT without sustained effects on energy metabolism, likely due to reversion to RT and limited sample size.
Brief temperature manipulation around pregnancy can durably alter maternal adipose tissue architecture and molecular signatures, underscoring ambient temperature as an important modulator of maternal metabolic adaptation.
环境温度显著影响啮齿动物的生理和代谢过程，影响肥胖及相关疾病。饲养在低于热中性温度的小鼠表现出能量消耗增加以及交感神经驱动的棕色脂肪激活，而在热中性环境（约30°C）中饲养则会降低这些反应。本研究旨在确定孕期前后短期暴露于改变的饲养温度是否会导致母体脂肪组织发生持久变化。我们假设，即使在这个关键窗口期进行短暂暴露也可能导致脂肪组织发生持续的结构和分子改变。
雌性C57BL/6J小鼠在怀孕前及整个孕期在寒冷（CE，8°C）、热中性（TN，30°C）或标准室温（RT，22°C）条件下饲养一周。所有小鼠产后返回RT环境。哺乳后进行包括葡萄糖耐量、能量消耗、组织学和蛋白质组学在内的表型评估。
温度暴露对产仔数或幼崽存活率没有显著影响。暴露于CE的小鼠由于瘦体重增加导致总体重增加，脂肪量减少。脂肪组织显示，腹股沟白色脂肪组织（iWAT）中的脂肪细胞较小，褐色脂肪组织（BAT）中的血管增多，尽管未观察到产热基因表达或葡萄糖稳态的持续变化。对iWAT的蛋白质组学分析鉴定出38种差异表达蛋白，与线粒体功能和mTOR信号通路相关的途径富集。
短期寒冷暴露在iWAT和BAT中诱导了持久的组织学和蛋白质组学变化，但对能量代谢没有持续影响，可能是由于恢复到RT环境且样本量有限。
孕期前后短暂的温度调控可持久改变母体脂肪组织结构和分子特征，强调环境温度是母体代谢适应的重要调节因素。
