title: Intrauterine exposure to flavonoids modifies antioxidant status at adulthood and decreases oxidative stress-induced DNA damage.
abstract: Maternal intake of flavonoids, known for their antioxidant properties, may affect the offspring's susceptibility to developing chronic diseases at adult age, especially those related to oxidative stress, via developmental programming. Therefore, we supplemented female mice with the flavonoids genistein and quercetin during gestation, to study their effect on the antioxidant capacity of lung and liver of adult offspring. Maternal intake of quercetin increased the expression of Nrf2 and Sod2 in fetal liver at gestational day 14.5. At adult age, in utero exposure to both flavonoids resulted in the increased expression of several enzymatic antioxidant genes, which was more pronounced in the liver than in the adult lung. Moreover, prenatal genistein exposure induced the nonenzymatic antioxidant capacity in the adult lung, partly by increasing glutathione levels. Prenatal exposure to both flavonoids resulted in significantly lower levels of oxidative stress-induced DNA damage in liver only. Our observations lead to the hypothesis that a preemptive trigger of the antioxidant defense system in utero had a persistent effect on antioxidant capacity and as a result decreased oxidative stress-induced DNA damage in the liver.
authors.affiliation: Department of Toxicology, School for Nutrition, Toxicology & Metabolism, Maastricht UMC+, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands. kimberly.vanhees@maastrichtuniversity.nl
authors.forename: Kimberly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vanhees
authors.forename: Frederik J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: van Schooten
authors.forename: Sahar Barjesteh
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: van Waalwijk van Doorn-Khosrovani
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: van Helden
authors.forename: Armelle
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Munnia
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Peluso
authors.forename: Jacob J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Briedé
authors.forename: Guido R M M
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Haenen
authors.forename: Roger W L
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Godschalk
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016588:Anticarcinogenic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004249:DNA Damage; D005260:Female; D005419:Flavonoids / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D019833:Genistein / Q000494:pharmacology; D005978:Glutathione / Q000096:biosynthesis; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D008168:Lung / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D051267:NF-E2-Related Factor 2 / Q000096:biosynthesis; D018384:Oxidative Stress; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D011794:Quercetin / Q000494:pharmacology; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000096:biosynthesis; D000099156:Superoxide Dismutase 2
chemical_list: D016588:Anticarcinogenic Agents; D000975:Antioxidants; D005419:Flavonoids; D019833:Genistein; D005978:Glutathione; D051267:NF-E2-Related Factor 2; D011794:Quercetin; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase; D000099156:Superoxide Dismutase 2; C495636:Nfe2l2 protein, mouse