GSE161954
High (5X) 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (MTHF) vs folic acid (FA) pregnancy diets on  hypothalamic gene expression of Wistar rat dams upon birth.
This study compared the effects of 5X requirements of FA (10mg/kg) vs equimolar 5-methyletetrahydrofolate (MTHF, 10.4mg/kg) provided during pregnancy on hypothalamic (arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus) gene expression profiles of Wistar rat dams upon birth. Methods: Whole-transcriptome analysis by RNA-sequencing was performed with Illumina HiSeq 2500 instrument (paired-end 2x125 bp sequencing  at a  depth of ˜20 million paired reads per sample). Sequence reads that passed quality filters were aligned to the rat genome using STAR aligner and differential gene expression was analyzed by DESeq2 using a padj <0.05. SYBR Green assay was used to validate candidate genes via qRT–PCR. Results: A total of 279 genes were identified to be differentially expressed genes in the hypothalamus of dams at birth fed high (5X) MTHF compared to 5X-FA diets during pregnancy, with 170 up-regulated and 109 down-regulated genes. Using goseq for pathway enrichment analysis, we identified several  enriched pathways that associated with the long-term phenotype of the dam including the KEGG neuroactive-ligand receptor interaction pathway. Conclusion: This study provides novel insight towards the differential effects of folate form during pregnancy on regulating dynamic changes in gene expression of the maternal brain upon birth. The results of our study may led to hypothesis testing to identify novel candidate genes and pathways targeted by folate during pregnancy that have a role in disease on-set and/or prevention. Overall design: Hypothalamic (arcuate nucelus of the hypothalamus) mRNA profiles from  Wistar rat dams  immediately after giving birth.