title: Maternal high-protein diet during pregnancy, but not during suckling, induced altered expression of an increasing number of hepatic genes in adult mouse offspring.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Indirect effects of a high-protein maternal diet are not well understood. In this study, we analyzed short-term and sustainable effects of a prenatal versus early postnatal maternal high-protein diet on growth and hepatic gene expression in mouse offspring.
  
  
  METHODS
  Dams were exposed to an isoenergetic high-protein (HP, 40 % w/w) diet during pregnancy or lactation. Growth and hepatic expression profiles of male offspring were evaluated directly after weaning and 150 days after birth. Offspring from two dietary groups, high-protein diet during pregnancy and control diet during lactation (HPC), and control diet during pregnancy and high-protein diet during lactation (CHP), were compared with offspring (CC) from control-fed dams.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Maternal CHP treatment was associated with sustained offspring growth retardation, but decreased numbers of affected hepatic genes in adults compared to weanlings. In contrast, offspring of the HPC group did not show persistent effects on growth parameters, but the number of affected hepatic genes was even increased at adult age. In both dietary groups, however, only a small subset of genes was affected in weanlings as well as in adults.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that (1) prenatal and early postnatal maternal HP diet caused persistent, but (2) different effects and partially complementary trends on growth characteristics and on the hepatic transcriptome and associated pathways and that (3) only a small number of genes and associated upstream regulators might be involved in passing early diet-induced imprints to adulthood.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Reproductive Biology, Leibniz Institute for Farm Animal Biology (FBN), 18196, Dummerstorf, Germany. vanselow@fbn-dummerstorf.de.
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vanselow
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nutritional Physiology, Leibniz Institute for Farm Animal Biology (FBN), 18196, Dummerstorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Marzena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kucia
authors.affiliation: Institute of Genetics and Biometry, Leibniz Institute for Farm Animal Biology (FBN), 18196, Dummerstorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Langhammer
authors.affiliation: Institute for Immunology, University of Rostock, 18055, Rostock, Germany.
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Koczan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nutritional Physiology, Leibniz Institute for Farm Animal Biology (FBN), 18196, Dummerstorf, Germany. metges@fbn-dummerstorf.de.
authors.forename: Cornelia C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Metges
mesh_terms: D050154:Adiposity; D000818:Animals; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004044:Dietary Proteins / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D015536:Down-Regulation; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D007774:Lactation; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D039382:Maternal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D051379:Mice; D046228:Microarray Analysis; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D059467:Transcriptome; D015854:Up-Regulation; D014886:Weaning
chemical_list: D004044:Dietary Proteins
keywords: High-protein diet; Lactation; Microarray analysis; Pregnancy