Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Sub-optimal paternal diet at the time of mating disrupts maternal adaptations to pregnancy in the late gestation mouse

Khoshkerdar, Afsaneh; Eid, Nader; Batra, Vipul; Baker, Nichola; Holmes, Nadine; Henson, Sonal; Sang, Fei; Wright, Victoria; McLaren, Jane; Shakesheff, Kevin; Woad, Kathyrine J.; Morgan, Hannah L.; Watkins, Adam J.

Sub-optimal paternal diet at the time of mating disrupts maternal adaptations to pregnancy in the late gestation mouse Thumbnail


Authors

Afsaneh Khoshkerdar

Nader Eid

Nichola Baker

Nadine Holmes

Fei Sang

Victoria Wright

JANE MCLAREN jane.mclaren@nottingham.ac.uk
Nottingham Senior Tissue Bank Manager

Kevin Shakesheff

KATIE WOAD katie.woad@nottingham.ac.uk
Assistant Professor

Hannah L. Morgan



Abstract

Pregnancy represents a stage during which maternal physiology and homeostatic regulation undergo dramatic change and adaptation. The fundamental purpose of these adaptations is to ensure the survival of her offspring through adequate nutrient provision and an environment that is tolerant to the semi-allogenic foetus. While poor maternal diet during pregnancy is associated with perturbed maternal adaptations during pregnancy, the influence of paternal diet on maternal well-being is less clearly defined. We fed C57BL/6 male mice either a control (CD), low protein diet (LPD), a high fat/sugar Western diet (WD) or the LPD or WD supplemented with methyl donors (MD-LPD and MD-WD, respectively) for a minimum of 8 weeks prior to mating with C57BL/6 females. Mated females were culled at day 17 of gestation for the analysis of maternal metabolic, gut, cardiac and bone health. Paternal diet had minimal influences on maternal serum and hepatic metabolite levels or gut microbiota diversity. However, analysis of the maternal hepatic transcriptome revealed distinct profiles of differential gene expression in response to the diet of the father. Paternal LPD and MD-LPD resulted in differential expression of genes associated with lipid metabolism, transcription, ubiquitin conjugation and immunity in dams, while paternal WD and MD-WD modified the expression of genes associated with ubiquitin conjugation and cardiac morphology. Finally, we observed changes in maternal femur length, volume of trabecular bone, trabecular connectivity, volume of the cortical medullar cavity and thickness of the cortical bone in response to the father’s diets. Our current study demonstrates that poor paternal diet at the time of mating can influence the patterns of maternal metabolism and gestation-associated adaptations to her physiology.

Citation

Khoshkerdar, A., Eid, N., Batra, V., Baker, N., Holmes, N., Henson, S., Sang, F., Wright, V., McLaren, J., Shakesheff, K., Woad, K. J., Morgan, H. L., & Watkins, A. J. (2024). Sub-optimal paternal diet at the time of mating disrupts maternal adaptations to pregnancy in the late gestation mouse. Nutrients, 16(12), Article 1879. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16121879

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jun 11, 2024
Online Publication Date Jun 14, 2024
Publication Date 2024-06
Deposit Date Jun 14, 2024
Publicly Available Date Jun 17, 2024
Journal Nutrients
Electronic ISSN 2072-6643
Publisher MDPI
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 16
Issue 12
Article Number 1879
DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16121879
Keywords paternal diet; maternal health; foetal programming; cardio-metabolic health
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/36014625
Publisher URL https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/16/12/1879