Summary: | Kanta Chechi1, John J. Mcguire2 and Sukhinder K. Cheema1,21Department of Biochemistry and 2Division of BioMedical Sciences, Memorial University, St. John’s, Newfoundland, A1B 3X9, Canada. Abstract Aim: To investigate the effects of diets rich in n-6 polyunsaturated fats (PUFA) fed during pre- and post-weaning time periods on the lipid metabolism and vascular reactivity in adult C57Bl/6 mice, in order to assess the impact of maternal nutrition and its interaction with the offspring diet on the metabolism of adult offspring.Methods: Female C57Bl/6 mice were fed a high-fat diet enriched with n-6 PUFA (P) or control diet (C) for 2-weeks before, during mating, gestation and lactation, while their pups received either P or C for 8-weeks post-weaning.Results: A significant interaction between the maternal and post-weaning diets was observed for the offspring body weight, food-, caloric-intake, plasma lipids, hepatic mRNA expression of lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase, aortic contractile and relaxation responses (P < 0.05).Conclusion: The overall metabolic and physiological outcome in the offspring is dependent upon the interaction between the pre- and post-weaning dietary environments.
|