Abstract
Sleep deprivation (SD) is a common issue among pregnant women. Maternal SD led to adverse effects on offspring health such as cognitive impairment through dysregulated metabolic pathways. However, it remains unknown whether maternal SD increases the offspring's susceptibility to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) development. Here, we induced maternal SD during pregnancy and observed that maternal SD during pregnancy promoted the development of diet-induced NASH in offspring of both sexes in adulthood, with exacerbation of liver weight gain, hepatic steatosis, fibrosis, and hepatic dysfunction. The primary hepatocytes isolated from SD offspring were also more susceptible to palmitate acid-induced lipotoxic injury. Mechanistically, the detrimental effects of maternal SD were associated with augmented activation of inflammatory and apoptosis pathways in offspring liver tissues, which were attributed to upregulation of the transcription factor nuclear receptor subfamily 4 group A member 3 (NR4A3). The melatonin signalling is reported to be pivotally affected by sleep disturbance both at the circulation and the placenta, and our further analysis revealed that melatonin supplementation during maternal SD normalised NR4A3 expression in offspring liver and alleviated the increased steatohepatitis susceptibility in offspring. Taken together, these results suggest that maternal SD during pregnancy predisposes offspring to NASH development in adulthood via an NR4A3-dependent mechanism, and maternal melatonin supplementation may hold promise for improving liver health in the offspring.