Sex differences in the association between prenatal exposure to maternal obesity and hippocampal volume in children

Introduction Animal studies have shown that male but not female offspring exposed to maternal obesity have abnormal hippocampal development. Similar sex differences were observed in animal models of developmental programming by prenatal stress or maternal diabetes. We aimed to translate this work in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain and behavior 2020-02, Vol.10 (2), p.e01522-n/a
Main Authors: Alves, Jasmin M., Luo, Shan, Chow, Ting, Herting, Megan, Xiang, Anny H., Page, Kathleen A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Automation
Body Mass Index
Brain research
Child
childhood
Children & youth
Diabetes
Female
Females
Gender differences
hippocampal subfields
hippocampal volume
Hippocampus - pathology
Humans
Magnetic resonance imaging
Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods
Male
Males
maternal obesity
Medical imaging
Metabolic disorders
Metabolites
Obesity
Obesity, Maternal - diagnosis
Organ Size
Original Research
Pregnancy
Prenatal exposure
Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects - pathology
Questionnaires
sex differences
Sex Factors
Studies
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Summary:Introduction Animal studies have shown that male but not female offspring exposed to maternal obesity have abnormal hippocampal development. Similar sex differences were observed in animal models of developmental programming by prenatal stress or maternal diabetes. We aimed to translate this work into humans by examining sex‐specific effects of exposure to maternal obesity on hippocampal volume in children. Methods Eighty‐eight children (37 boys and 51 girls) aged 7–11 years completed the study. Maternal prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) was obtained from electronic medical records. A high‐resolution anatomical scan was performed using a 3‐Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner. Total hippocampal volume and hippocampal subfield volumes were analyzed using FreeSurfer 6.0. Linear regression was used to investigate sex differences in relationships between maternal prepregnancy BMI and child hippocampal volume. Results Maternal prepregnancy BMI ranged from 19.0 to 50.4 kg/m2. We observed a significant interaction between maternal prepregnancy BMI and sex on total hippocampal volume (p 
ISSN:2162-3279
2162-3279
DOI:10.1002/brb3.1522