A ingestão precoce de dieta enriquecida com óleo de peixe reverte alterações bioquímicas, hepáticas e do tecido adiposo na prole de camundongos submetidos à restrição proteica

Abstract

Studies related obesity in adult life with malnutrition in early life, called metabolic programming . The liver seems to be one of the most affected by fetal programming. Fish oil is rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) of n-3 family: eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). EPA and DHA are related with several biological reactions, like systolic blood pressure reduction and anti-inflammatory properties. We hypothesized that early fish oil (FO) intake would revert the programming responses in adult offspring. Pregnant mice were fed either standard chow (SC) or low-protein diet (LP) throughout pregnancy/lactation. At weaning, the following groups were formed (FO means supplemented with fish oil): SC-SC and SC-FO, LP-SC and LP-FO. We measured body mass, food intake, feed efficiency, blood pressure (BP), levels of plasma insulin, glucose, tumor necrosis factor (TNF-alpha), total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT). We also measured adipocyte morphometry, liver stereology and expression of the SREBP-1 and PPAR-alpha proteins.The LP offspring are predisposed to becoming fat, hypercholesterolemic and hyperglycemic. In addition, during adulthood, they become hypertensive with hepatic steatosis and had high level of SREBP-1. However, LP offspring that were fed FO-enriched diet had decreased body mass gain and lower final body mass. In addition, with FO diet, these mice have improved lipid metabolism with decrease in plasma TC and TG levels, reduced fat pad masses and adipocyte size. Furthermore, LP-FO offspring show low ALT level, reduced liver steatosis with low SREBP-1 protein expression and high PPAR-alpha expression, and improvement of BP and TNF-alpha level. Early fish oil intake has beneficial effects reversing the programming responses that control body mass, glucose and lipid metabolism, and liver and adipose tissue structure in adult programmed offspring.