Dam’s Fructose Induced-Metabolic Syndrome Promotes Long-Term Neurological Alterations In Offspring

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this work was to determine if mater- nal metabolic syndrome (MetS), induced by a high fruc- tose supplementation, induces long-term neurological and metabolic alterations in offspring. Material & Meth- ods: 2 months old female Wistar rats were fed a standard diet and drunk either tap water alone or supplemented with 20% fructose, for 10 weeks, to induce MetS. Then they were mated with healthy males to generate litters (OC: offspring from control dams n=6; OF: offspring from fructose dams, n=6). So as to analyze only the prena- tal effects of maternal MetS, all the pups were breastfed by control nurse dams, that had access to a standard diet and water ad libitum until weaning. Cognitive and social performance were evaluated between postnatal day (PN) 22 and 90. Animals were sacrificed on PN100 and metabolic parameters were analyzed. Normality of the data was analyzed by Shapiro-Wilk´s test, homosce- dasticity by Bartlett´s test and then parametric (t-test) or non-parametric (Mann-Whitney) tests were performed on the data. Results: The elevated plus maze, the open field and the marble burying tests revealed an increased anx- iety-like phenotype in females OF. On the contrary, the novel object recognition test showed that only the males from the OF group had long-term memory impairment. In the reciprocal social interaction test, both male and female OF presented lower number of social interac- tions, while only females showed significant increments in “socially inactive” behavior. Furthermore, in the Three Chamber Test, only females OF had lower social prefer- ence and social novelty indexes. In regards to metabolic parameters, females OF had increased levels of serum triglycerides and higher visceral fat percentage. Conclu- sions: maternal MetS has long-term adverse effects on the neurological and metabolic status of offspring rats with sexual dimorphism