Prenatal inflammation causes obesity and abnormal lipid metabolism via impaired energy expenditure in male offspring

Prenatal LPS exposure led to obesity and abnormal lipid metabolism through impaired energy expenditure.

The pregnant C57BL/6J mice were intraperitoneally injected with 50 μg/kg LPS or saline only once at GD15. The male offspring were weighted weekly until sacrificed. Indirect calorimetry and body composition were both performed at 9 and 18 weeks old. At 20 weeks old, mice were fasted overnight before collecting blood samples and liver for metabolomics analysis and RNA sequencing, respectively. Differentially expressed genes were further verified by RT-qPCR and western blotting.

Prenatal inflammation resulted in obesity with increased fat percentage and decreased energy expenditure in middle-age male offspring. Abnormal lipid accumulation, changes of gene expression profile and upregulation of multi-component mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTOR)/Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ pathway was observed in liver, accompanied with decreased bile acids level, unsaturated fatty acids androgens and prostaglandins in serum. Indirect calorimetry showed increased respiratory exchange rate and deceased spontaneous activity at 9 weeks in LPS group. Impaired energy expenditure was also observed at 18 weeks in LPS group.