Maternal Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and High-Fat Diet Influenced Hepatic Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Profile in the Offspring of C57BL/6J Mice.

Scope: This research examines the effects of maternal high-fat (HF) diet and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) on offspring lipid metabolism and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) profile.
Methods and Results: GDM is induced using the insulin receptor antagonist S961. Weaning offspring are categorized into HF-GDM, HF-CON, NC-GDM, and NC-CON groups based on maternal diet or GDM. Adult offspring are then grouped into NC-CON-NC, NC-CON-HF, NC-GDM-NC, NC-GDM-HF, HF-CON-NC, HF-CON-HF, HF-GDM-NC, and HF-GDM-HF according to dietary patterns. Gas chromatography determines PUFA composition. Western blot assesses PI3K/Akt signaling pathway-related protein expression. Feeding a normal chow diet until adulthood improves the distribution of hepatic PUFA during weaning across the four groups. PI3K expression is upregulated during weaning in HF-CON and HF-GDM, particularly in HF-CON-NC and HF-GDM-NC, compared to NC-CON-NC during adulthood. Akt expression increases in NC-GDM-NC after weaning with a normal diet. The hepatic PUFA profile in HF-CON-HF significantly distinguishes among the maternal generation health groups. Maternal HF diet exacerbates the combined impact of maternal GDM and offspring HF diet on hepatic PUFA and PI3K/Akt signaling pathway-related proteins during adulthood.
Conclusions: Early exposure to HF diets and GDM affects hepatic PUFA profiles and PI3K/Akt signaling pathway protein expression in male offspring during weaning and adulthood.
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