Maternal exercise modifies body composition and energy substrates handling in male offspring fed a high‐fat/high‐sucrose diet

• Published in: The Journal of physiology 2017-12, Vol.595 (23), p.7049-7062
• Main Authors: Quiclet, Charline, Dubouchaud, Hervé, Berthon, Phanélie, Sanchez, Hervé, Vial, Guillaume, Siti, Farida, Fontaine, Eric, Batandier, Cécile, Couturier, Karine
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: AKT protein; Animals; Body Composition; Carbohydrate metabolism; Carbohydrates; Cells, Cultured; Coenzyme A; Diet, High-Fat - adverse effects; Dietary Sucrose - administration & dosage; Dietary Sucrose - adverse effects; Endocrine; Energy Metabolism; Energy resources; exercise; Female; Gestation; High fat diet; Insulin; Insulin - metabolism; Insulin Secretion; insulin sensitivity; Insulin-Secreting Cells - metabolism; Kinases; Life Sciences; Lipid Metabolism; Liver; Male; Metabolism; Muscle, Skeletal - metabolism; Muscles; Nutrition; Nutritional status; Offspring; Pancreas; Physical Conditioning, Animal; Pregnancy; Pyruvic acid; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Research Paper; Rodents; Secretion; Sucrose; Weaning
• ISSN: 0022-3751; 1469-7793
• DOI: 10.1113/JP274739

Key points Maternal training during gestation enhances offspring body composition and energy substrates handling in early adulthood. Offspring nutrition also plays a role as some beneficial effects of maternal training during gestation disappear after consumption of a high‐fat diet. Maternal exercise during gestation has been reported to modify offspring metabolism and health. Whether these effects are exacerbated when offspring are receiving a high‐fat diet remains unclear. Our purpose was to evaluate the effect of maternal exercise before and during gestation on the offspring fed a high‐fat/high‐sucrose diet (HF) by assessing its body composition, pancreatic function and energy substrates handling by two major glucose‐utilizing tissues: liver and muscle. Fifteen‐week‐old nulliparous female Wistar rats exercised 4 weeks before as well as during gestation at a constant submaximal intensity (TR) or remained sedentary (CT). At weaning, pups from each group were fed either a standard diet (TRCD or CTCD) or a high‐fat/high‐sucrose diet (TRHF or CTHF) for 10 weeks. Offspring from TR dams gained less weight compared to those from CT dams. Selected fat depots were larger with the HF diet compared to control diet (CD) but significantly smaller in TRHF compared to CTHF. Surprisingly, the insulin secretion index was higher in islets from HF offspring compared to CD. TR offspring showed a higher muscle insulin sensitivity estimated by the ratio of phosphorylated protein kinase B to total protein kinase B compared with CT offspring (+48%, P