title: Lasting effects on body weight and mammary gland gene expression in female mice upon early life exposure to n-3 but not n-6 high-fat diets.
abstract: Exposure to an imbalance of nutrients prior to conception and during critical developmental periods can have lasting consequences on physiological processes resulting in chronic diseases later in life. Developmental programming has been shown to involve structural and functional changes in important tissues. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether early life diet has a programming effect on the mammary gland. Wild-type mice were exposed from 2 weeks prior to conception to 6 weeks of age to a regular low-fat diet, or to high-fat diets based on either corn oil or flaxseed oil. At 6 weeks of age, all mice were shifted to the regular low-fat diet until termination at 10 weeks of age. Early life exposure to a high-fat diet, either high in n-6 (corn oil) or in n-3 (flaxseed oil) polyunsaturated fatty acids, did not affect birth weight, but resulted in an increased body weight at 10 weeks of age. Transcriptome analyses of the fourth abdominal mammary gland revealed differentially expressed genes between the different treatment groups. Exposure to high-fat diet based on flaxseed oil, but not on corn oil, resulted in regulation of pathways involved in energy metabolism, immune response and inflammation. Our findings suggest that diet during early life indeed has a lasting effect on the mammary gland and significantly influences postnatal body weight gain, metabolic status, and signaling networks in the mammary gland of female offspring.
authors: Laboratory for Health Protection Research, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands.
authors: Mirjam
authors: M
authors: Luijten
authors: Amar V
authors: AV
authors: Singh
authors: Caleb A
authors: CA
authors: Bastian
authors: Anja
authors: A
authors: Westerman
authors: M Michele
authors: MM
authors: Pisano
authors: Jeroen L A
authors: JL
authors: Pennings
authors: Aart
authors: A
authors: Verhoef
authors: Maia L
authors: ML
authors: Green
authors: Aldert H
authors: AH
authors: Piersma
authors: Annemieke
authors: A
authors: de Vries
authors: Thomas B
authors: TB
authors: Knudsen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3 / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000097:blood; D043371:Fatty Acids, Omega-6 / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D008321:Mammary Glands, Animal / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3; D043371:Fatty Acids, Omega-6