The impact of maternal obesity on inflammatory processes and consequences for later offspring health outcomes.

Obesity is a global epidemic, affecting both developed and developing countries. The related metabolic consequences that arise from being overweight or obese are a paramount global health concern, and represent a significant burden on healthcare systems. Furthermore, being overweight or obese during pregnancy increases the risk of offspring developing obesity and other related metabolic complications in later life, which can therefore perpetuate a transgenerational cycle of obesity. Obesity is associated with a chronic state of low-grade metabolic inflammation. However, the role of maternal obesity-mediated alterations in inflammatory processes as a mechanism underpinning developmental programming in offspring is less understood. Further, the use of anti-inflammatory agents as an intervention strategy to ameliorate or reverse the impact of adverse developmental programming in the setting of maternal obesity has not been well studied. This review will discuss the impact of maternal obesity on key inflammatory pathways, impact on pregnancy and offspring outcomes, potential mechanisms and avenues for intervention.

Maternal conjugated linoleic acid supplementation reverses high-fat diet-induced skeletal muscle atrophy and inflammation in adult male rat offspring.

A high-saturated-fat diet (HFD) during pregnancy and lactation leads to metabolic disorders in offspring concomitant with increased adiposity and a proinflammatory phenotype in later life. During the fetal period, the impact of maternal diet on skeletal muscle development is poorly described, despite this tissue exerting a major influence on life-long metabolic health. This study investigated the effect of a maternal HFD on skeletal muscle anabolic, catabolic, and inflammatory signaling in adult rat offspring. Furthermore, the actions of maternal-supplemented conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) on these measures of muscle phenotype were investigated. A purified control diet (CD; 10% kcal fat), a CD supplemented with CLA (CLA; 10% kcal fat, 1% total fat as CLA), a high-fat (HFD; 45% kcal fat from lard), or a HFD supplemented with CLA (HFCLA; 45% kcal fat from lard, 1% total fat as CLA) was fed ad libitum to female Sprague-Dawley rats for 10 days before mating and throughout gestation and lactation. Male offspring received a standard chow diet from weaning, and the gastrocnemius was collected for analysis at day 150. Offspring from HF and HFCLA mothers displayed lower muscular protein content accompanied by elevated monocyte chemotactic protein-1, IL-6, and IL-1ß concentrations. Phosphorylation of NF-κBp65 (Ser(536)) and expression of the catabolic E3 ligase muscle ring finger 1 (MuRF1) were increased in HF offspring, an effect reversed by maternal CLA supplementation. The present study demonstrates the importance of early life interventions to ameliorate the negative effects of poor maternal diet on offspring skeletal muscle development.