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ARS Home » Plains Area » Grand Forks, North Dakota » Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center » Healthy Body Weight Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #388837
Research Project: Dietary and Physical Activity Guidance for Weight Loss and Maintenance

Location: Healthy Body Weight Research

Title: Effect of maternal High Fat diet with vegetable substitution on fetal brain transcriptome

Author
item Larson, Kate
item Bundy, Amy
item Kuntz, Terry
item HUR, JUNGUK - University Of North Dakota
item Yeater, Kathleen
item Casperson, Shanon
item BRUNELLE, DALE - Oak Ridge Institute For Science And Education (ORISE)
item Roemmich, James

Submitted to: Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/12/2022
Publication Date: 5/12/2022
Citation: Larson, K.J., Bundy, A.N., Kuntz, T.M., Hur, J., Yeater, K.M., Casperson, S.L., Brunelle, D.C., Roemmich, J.N. 2022. Effect of maternal High Fat diet with vegetable substitution on fetal brain transcriptome. Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnutbio.2022.109088.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnutbio.2022.109088

Interpretive Summary: Scientists at the USDA-ARS Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center examined whether maternal high fat diet substituted 5% energy with vegetables plays a critical role in fetal growth and fetal brain development. They found that in a rodent model a high fat maternal diet negatively alters both placenta and fetal growth and that vegetable substitution has a positive effect against those changes. Using a new molecular biological technique called RNAseq analysis, scientists showed that these beneficial effects of vegetables maybe mediated by influencing expression of genes called Apold1, Spata2l and Celsr1.

Technical Abstract: Maternal dietary conditions play a major role in fetal growth and brain development. The primary aim of this study was to determine the effects of 5% of energy substitution by vegetables in a maternal dietary fat on placental and fetal weight and on fetal brain gene expression. Two-month-old female C57BL/6 mice were fed 16% (normal-fat, NF), 45% fat (HF), or HF substituted with vegetables (5% energy, HF+VS) diets for 12 weeks. Dams were then bred with NF diet-fed male mice. Placenta and fetal weights were measured at gestational age 19 (D19). RNA was isolated from fetal whole brains and sequenced using Illumina HiSeq. HF+VS diet prevented maternal HF diet-induced decreases in placental weight at D19. Feeding of a maternal HF diet was associated with 79 differentially expressed.