Maternal cafeteria diet modifies the expression of dopaminergic related-genes in the rat offspring by epigenetic mechanisms

ROSSETTI MF; SCHUMACHER R; STOKER C; LAZZARINO GP; ANDREOLI MF; VARAYOUD J; RAMOS JG

Congreso; Reunión Conjunta de Biociencias I; 2017

he aim of the present study was to determine the effect of maternal cafeteria diet(CAF) on the expression of key genes related to the brain reward system in theoffspring during the perinatal period. Female Wistar rats were fed with standardchow (CON) and/or CAF (snacks, biscuits, cookies, pudding, chocolate) fromweaning. After 120 days of diet, females were randomly placed with Wistar malesand vaginal smears were performed to confirm successful mating. Dams weremaintained on their respective diets throughout pregnancy and lactation. Femaleoffspring from CON and CAF dams were sacrificed on embryonic day 21 (E21) andpostnatal day 10 (PND10). Offspring brains were removed and, using amicropunch technique, ventral tegmental area (VTA) and accumbens nucleus(NAc) were removed and stored at−80°C. For mRNA analysis, real-timequantitative PCR was performed. For methylation studies, digestion withmethylation-sensitive restriction enzymes followed by real-time PCR was used.Data was analyzed by two-way ANOVA and Bonferroni post-test; differences weresignificant at p