Effects of prenatal stress and postnatal high fat diet feeding on BALB/c mice metabolism

YAMILA JUÁREZ; ADRIANA LAURA BURGUEÑO; MARIANA TELLECHEA; SOFÍA QUIROGA; ANA MARÍA GENARO

Mar del Plata

Congreso; REUNIÓN ANUAL DE SOCIEDADES DE BIOCIENCIA 2019; 2019

In-utero exposure to maternal stress increases short and long term risk of suffering metabolic diseases. Exposure to stressful events leads to an increase in glucocorticoids release by activation of the HPA axis, therefore early programming of the HPA axis has emerged as a key underlying mechanism of stress-related disorders. Evidence suggests that a stressful prenatal environment seems to favour adverse metabolic conditions. To test this hypothesis in BALB/c mice, a strain susceptible to stress but resistant to metabolic effects of a high fat diet (HFD), we exposed female pregnant mice to restraint stress during the last week of pregnancy (2 hs/day). Offspring were fed with HFD between weeks 4 and 28 of age. Prenatally stressed (PS) females and males fed with HFD showed higher body weight (females: p