title: Exposure to a Highly Caloric Palatable Diet During Pregestational and Gestational Periods Affects Hypothalamic and Hippocampal Endocannabinoid Levels at Birth and Induces Adiposity and Anxiety-Like Behaviors in Male Rat Offspring.
abstract: Exposure to unbalanced diets during pre-gestational and gestational periods may result in long-term alterations in metabolism and behavior. The contribution of the endocannabinoid system to these long-term adaptive responses is unknown. In the present study, we investigated the impact of female rat exposure to a hypercaloric-hypoproteic palatable diet during pre-gestational, gestational and lactational periods on the development of male offspring. In addition, the hypothalamic and hippocampal endocannabinoid contents at birth and the behavioral performance in adulthood were investigated. Exposure to a palatable diet resulted in low weight offspring who exhibited low hypothalamic contents of arachidonic acid and the two major endocannabinoids (anandamide and 2-arachidonoylglycerol) at birth. Palmitoylethanolamide, but not oleoylethanolamide, also decreased. Additionally, pups from palatable diet-fed dams displayed lower levels of anandamide and palmitoylethanolamide in the hippocampus. The low-weight male offspring, born from palatable diet exposed mothers, gained less weight during lactation and although they recovered weight during the post-weaning period, they developed abdominal adiposity in adulthood. These animals exhibited anxiety-like behavior in the elevated plus-maze and open field test and a low preference for a chocolate diet in a food preference test, indicating that maternal exposure to a hypercaloric diet induces long-term behavioral alterations in male offspring. These results suggest that maternal diet alterations in the function of the endogenous cannabinoid system can mediate the observed phenotype of the offspring, since both hypothalamic and hippocampal endocannabinoids regulate feeding, metabolic adaptions to caloric diets, learning, memory, and emotions.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicobiología, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: María Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Ramírez-López
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicobiología, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Complutense de MadridMadrid, Spain; Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Salud Mental, Instituto IBIMA, Hospital Regional Universitario de Málaga, Universidad de MálagaMálaga, Spain.
authors.forename: Mariam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vázquez
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physiological Chemistry, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bindila
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physiological Chemistry, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Ermelinda
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lomazzo
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physiological Chemistry, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Clementine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hofmann
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicobiología, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Rosario Noemí
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Blanco
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicobiología, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Alén
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicobiología, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Antón
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Salud Mental, Instituto IBIMA, Hospital Regional Universitario de Málaga, Universidad de Málaga Málaga, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Decara
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicobiología, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ouro
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicobiología, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Orio
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Salud Mental, Instituto IBIMA, Hospital Regional Universitario de Málaga, Universidad de Málaga Málaga, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Suarez
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physiological Chemistry, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Beat
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lutz
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicobiología, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Complutense de MadridMadrid, Spain; Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Salud Mental, Instituto IBIMA, Hospital Regional Universitario de Málaga, Universidad de MálagaMálaga, Spain.
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rodríguez de Fonseca
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicobiología, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Raquel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gómez de Heras
keywords: adipogenesis; anxiety; development; endocannabinoids; hippocampus; hypothalamus; maternal diet