Effects of obesity before pregnancy and excessive weight gain during pregnancy on the characteristics of offspring metabolism and the underlying mechanism / 中国基层医药

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the effects of obesity before pregnancy and excessive weight gain during pregnancy on the characteristics of offspring metabolism and the underlying mechanism.Methods:Pregnant women who delivered from April 2016 to December 2018 in Jiaxing Xiuzhou District Maternal and Child Health Hospital after providing written informed consent and their singleton newborns were considered for recruitment for this study. Finally, 2000 pregnant women and their newborns were included in this study. These pregnant women were divided into study control ( n = 1 576, normal body weight) and ( n = 424, overweight) groups according to their body mass before and during pregnancy. The levels of leptin, blood lipid, fasting blood glucose, fasting insulin, long form of leptin receptor (OB-Rb), suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS3) gene expression, insulin resistance index, and insulin sensitivity index were compared between the control and study groups. Results:The body mass index before pregnancy and body mass during pregnancy in the study group were (30.91 ± 1.86) kg/m 2 and (21.25 ± 2.61) kg, respectively, which were significantly higher than those in the control group [(26.87 ± 1.05) kg/m 2, (14.57 ± 1.36) kg, t = 7.972, P = 0.013; t = 9.786, P = 0.001]. The levels of leptin, triglyceride, total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in the study group were (1.23 ± 0.29) ng/mL, (0.65 ± 0.16) mmol/L, (1.40 ± 0.24) mmol/L, (0.76 ± 0.13) mmol/L, respectively, which were significantly higher than those in the control group [(0.63 ± 0.11) ng/mL, (0.38 ± 0.16) mmol/L, (1.13 ± 0.32) mmol/L, (0.56 ± 0.09) mmol/L, t = 7.701, P = 0.010; t = 7.329, P = 0.019; t = 5.734, P = 0.030; t = 9.387, P = 0.001]. The level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in the study group was significantly lower than that in the control group [(1.26 ± 0.17) mmol/L vs. (1.75 ± 0.26) mmol/L, t = 8.072, P = 0.008]. The expression of SOCS3 mRNA and OB-Rb mRNA in newborns from the study group was (1.44 ± 0.29) and (1.33 ± 0.39), respectively, which was significantly greater than that in the control group [(0.33 ± 0.19), (0.50 ± 0.21), t = 9.987, P < 0.001; t = 11.037, P < 0.001]. Fasting blood glucose and fasting insulin levels as well as insulin resistance index in the study group were (22.06 ± 3.94) mmol/L, (20.02 ± 4.61) mU/L, (19.79 ± 6.29) respectively, which were significantly higher than those in the control group [(11.73 ± 2.92) mmol/L, (13.31 ± 3.43) mU/L, (6.96 ± 2.52), t = 8.133, P = 0.001; t = 4.498, P = 0.027; t = 7.352, P = 0.002]. Insulin sensitivity index in the study group was significantly lower than that in the control group [(-6.07 ± 0.32) vs. (-4.98 ± 0.37), t = 8.244, P < 0.001]. Conclusion:Obesity before pregnancy and excessive weight gain during pregnancy will increase the expression of SOCS3 mRNA and further affect the expression of STAT3-SOCS3-leptin/insulin signaling pathway in offspring.