Methyl vitamins in HV gestational diets contribute to obesogenic phenotypes and epigenetic alterations in the hypothalamic feeding pathways in the offspring. Folate alone accounts for many of these effects.

Background:Obesity is associated with increased consumption and preference for dietary fat. Experimental models of fat-induced obesity use either lard or vegetable shortening. Yet, there are no direct comparisons of these commonly used fat sources, or the influence of their fatty acid composition, on the development of diet-induced obesity.Objective:To compare the effects of lard and hydrogenated vegetable-shortening diets, which differ in their fatty acid composition, on weight gain and the development of obesity and insulin resistance in rats.Methods and design:Male Wistar rats were fed ad libitum for 14 weeks high-fat diets containing either (1) high vegetable fat (HVF, 60 kcal% from vegetable shortening) or (2) high lard fat (HLF, 60 kcal% from lard). Rats fed normal-fat (NF, 16 kcal% from vegetable shortening) diet served as control. Body weight, food intake, adipose tissue mass, serum 25[OH]D3, glucose, insulin and fatty acid composition of diets were measured.Results:Rats fed either of the two high-fat diets had higher energy intake, weight gain and fat accretion than rats fed normal-fat diet. However, rats fed the HLF diet consumed more calories and gained more weight and body fat with greater increases of 32% in total (158.5±8.2 vs 120.2±6.6 g, P<0.05), 30% in visceral (104.4±5.2 vs 80.3±4.2 g, P<0.05) and 36% in subcutaneous fat mass (54.1±3.6 vs 39.9±3.1 g, P<0.05), compared with rats fed the HVF diet. Higher visceral adiposity was positively correlated with serum insulin (r=0.376, P<0.05) and homeostatic model assessment insulin resistance (r=0.391, P<0.05).Conclusion:We conclude that lard-based high-fat diets accentuate the increase in weight gain and the development of obesity and insulin resistance more than hydrogenated vegetable-shortening diets. These results further point to the importance of standardizing fatty acid composition and type of fat used in determining outcomes of consuming high-fat diets.

The zebrafish has been proposed as a model organism to study genetic effects influencing behaviour and also as a tool with which the mechanisms of the action of alcohol (ethanol or EtOH) in the vertebrate brain may be investigated. In the current study we exposed zebrafish from two genetically distinct strains (WIK and TU) to a computer animated image of a natural predator of this species, the Indian leaf fish. We measured the subjects’ behavioural responses in the presence of different acute doses of alcohol (0.00, 0.25, 0.50, and 1.00% vol/vol) using an observation based event-recording method. We found fish of both strains to exhibit an atypical predator inspection response during the presentation of the animated predator image coupled with a classical fear response, increased jumping frequency. We found numerous alcohol induced behavioural changes and more importantly also revealed alcohol induced strain dependent changes as well, including different dose-response trajectories for WIK versus TU in predator inspection response, general swimming activity, location of swimming (top vs. bottom half of the tank) and freezing. The results suggest that zebrafish of the TU strain may be more tolerant at least to lower doses of alcohol as compared to WIK. The characterization of strain differences in zebrafish will aid the identification of possible molecular mechanisms involved in alcohol’s actions in the vertebrate brain.

Scope: High-folic-acid diets during pregnancy result in obesity in the offspring, associated with altered DNA-methylation of hypothalamic food intake neurons. Like folic acid, the methyl-donor choline modulates foetal brain development, but its long-term programing effects on energy regulation remain undefined. This study aims to describe the effect of choline intake during pregnancy on offspring phenotype and hypothalamic energy-regulatory mechanisms. Methods and results: Wistar rat dams are fed an AIN-93G diet with recommended choline (RC, 1 g kg −1 diet), low choline (LC, 0.5-fold), or high choline (HC, 2.5-fold) during pregnancy. Male pups are terminated at birth and 17 weeks post-weaning. Brain 1-carbon metabolites, body weight, food intake, energy expenditure, plasma hormones, and protein expression of hypothalamic neuropeptides are measured. HC pups have higher expression of the orexigenic neuropeptide-Y neurons at birth, consistent with higher cumulative food intake and body weight gain post-weaning compared to RC and LC offspring. LC pups have lower leptin receptor expression at birth and lower energy expenditure and activity during adulthood. Conclusion: Choline content of diets that are consumed by rats during pregnancy affects the later-life phenotype of offspring, associated with altered in utero programing of hypothalamic food intake regulation.