Maternal high-fat diet during pregnancy and lactation reduces the appetitive behavioral component in female offspring tested in a brief-access taste procedure

Yada Treesukosol, Bo Sun, Alexander A. Moghadam, Nu Chu Liang, Kellie L. Tamashiro, Timothy H. Moran

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Maternal high-fat diet appears to disrupt several energy balance mechanisms in offspring. Here, female offspring from dams fed a high-fat diet (HF) did not significantly differ in body weight compared with those fed chow (CHOW), when weaned onto chow diet. Yet when presented with both a chow and a high-fat diet, high-fat intake was significantly higher in HF compared with CHOW offspring. To assess taste-based responsiveness, offspring (12 wk old) were tested in 30-min sessions (10-s trials) to a sucrose concentration series in a brief-access taste test. Compared with CHOW, the HF offspring initiated significantly fewer trials but did not significantly differ in the amount of concentration-dependent licking. Thus, rather than affect lick response (consummatory), maternal diet affects spout approach (appetitive), which may be attributed to motivation-related mechanisms. Consistent with this possibility, naltrexone, an opioid receptor antagonist, further reduced trial initiation, but not licking in both groups. With naltrexone administration, the group difference in trial initiation was no longer evident, suggesting differences in endogenous opioid activity between the two groups. Relative expression of μ-opioid receptor in the ventral tegmental area was significantly lower in HF rats. When trial initiation was not required in one-bottle intake tests, no main effect of maternal diet on the intake of sucrose and corn oil emulsions was observed. Thus, the maternal high-fat diet-induced difference in diet preference is not likely due to changes in the sensory orosensory component of the taste stimulus but may depend on alterations in satiety signals or absorptive mechanisms.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)R499-R509
JournalAmerican Journal of Physiology - Regulatory Integrative and Comparative Physiology
Volume306
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 1 2014
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Appetitive
  • Fat
  • Maternal diet
  • Motivation
  • Sweet

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Medicine

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Maternal high-fat diet during pregnancy and lactation reduces the appetitive behavioral component in female offspring tested in a brief-access taste procedure'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this