Maternal Malnutrition and Offspring Sex Determine Juvenile Obesity and Metabolic Disorders in a Swine Model of Leptin Resistance

Abstract

The present study aimed to determine, in a swine model of leptin resistance, the effects of type and timing of maternal malnutrition on growth patterns, adiposity and metabolic features of the progeny when exposed to an obesogenic diet during their juvenile development and possible concomitant effects of the offspring sex. Thus, four groups were considered. A CONTROL group involved pigs born from sows fed with a diet fulfilling their daily maintenance requirements for pregnancy. The treated groups involved the progeny of females fed with the same diet but fulfilling either 160% or 50% of pregnancy requirements during the entire gestation (OVERFED and UNDERFED, respectively) or 100% of requirements until Day 35 of pregnancy and 50% of such amount from Day 36 onwards (LATE-UNDERFED). OVERFED and UNDERFED offspring were more prone to higher corpulence and fat deposition from early postnatal stages, during breast-feeding; adiposity increased significantly when exposed to obesogenic diets, especially in females. The effects of sex were even more remarkable in LATE-UNDERFED offspring, which had similar corpulence to CONTROL piglets; however, females showed a clear predisposition to obesity. Furthermore, the three groups of pigs with maternal malnutrition showed evidences of metabolic syndrome and, in the case of individuals born from OVERFED sows, even of insulin resistance and the prodrome of type-2 diabetes. These findings support the main role of early nutritional programming in the current rise of obesity and associated diseases in ethnics with leptin resistance.

Early-postnatal changes in adiposity and lipids profile by transgenerational developmental programming in swine with obesity/leptin resistance

“…However, this pattern was not related to a higher birth weight or a higher growth rate in the first days of life, which resembles the results from previous studies carried out on the first generation of Iberian pigs exposed to prenatal programming (Barbero et al 2013). Our findings are in agreement with those of previous studies which indicate that, in pigs, growth and maturation of foetuses are markedly determined during the last few days of gestation (McPherson et al 2004, Foxcroft et al 2006, Lin et al 2012, even more in antique breeds such as Iberian swine (Charneca et al 2010).…”

“…Moreover, our previous and current results (Barbero et al 2013) indicate that, in both the first and second generation, these alterations may be stronger in the case of exposure to an excess of nutrients and, specially, in male offspring.…”

“…These changes are the results of an interaction between sex of the individual and type of nutritional challenge of its ancestors (deficiency or excess). In brief, the results of our previous studies , Barbero et al 2013, Ovilo et al 2014 indicated that the first generation of female descendants from sows exposed to nutritional programming, both by deficiency and excess, displayed accelerated early-postnatal growth from the very first days of life, reaching weights similar to their male littermates during the lactation period. The transition from lactation to solid diet was characterised by a higher weight gain in both male and female progeny of sows exposed to either excess or deficiency these finally having higher weight and adiposity than their control counterparts, as well as altered fatty acid metabolism.…”

“…The exposure of pregnant Iberian sows to undernutrition or overnutrition induces higher body corpulence and adiposity, development of metabolic syndrome and the prodrome of type-2 diabetes in the first generation of descendants (Barbero et al 2013). The objective of this study was to determine the existence and characteristics of transgenerational prenatal programming in the Iberian breed by assessing the phenotype of the second generation of descendants.…”

Advanced onset of puberty after metformin therapy in swine with thrifty genotype

“…) with a Panorama 0.23 T scanner with a body/spine XL coil (Philips Medical Systems, Best, The Netherlands) as previously described (Barbero et al . ).…”