Effect of Fetal Programming and Finishing FA Supplementation on Hypothalamus mRNA Concentration

Ana C. Carranza Martin¹, Danielle N. Coleman², Cecilia C. Furnus¹ and Alejandro E. Relling³, (1)Veterinary Genetic Institute “Ing. Fernando Noel Dulout” National Research Council, La Plata, Argentina, (2)Department of Animal Sciences, University of Illinoins, Urbana, IL, (3)Department of Animal Sciences, OSU, Wooster, OH

Maternal nutrition produces metabolic and endocrine changes that may cause fetal programming effects. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of feeding an enriched diet with eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) to ewes during late gestation and its effect to their offspring on the hypothalamus gene expression of hormones, metabolites and neurotransmitter receptors in finishing lambs. Lambs born from ewes fed during the last 50 days of gestation, either with a diet containing 0.39 % Ca salts of a palmitic fatty acid distillate (PFAD) or Ca salts enriched with EPA and DHA (PUFA) were used in this study. At lambing all ewes and lambs were penned together and fed the same pasture until weaning. After weaning the lambs were blocked by BW and divided in a 2x2 factorial into 2 finishing diet containing 1.5% of PFAD or PUFA. The 2 factors were the ewe diet and the finishing diet. On d 43, 14 female hypothalamuses were obtained and 18 metabolic genes were analyzed. There was a significant mother/treatment interaction in melanocortin receptor (MCR) 3 and cholecystokinin receptor (CCK-R) mRNA (P<0.01), and a tendency in cortisol receptor (Cor-R; P=0.06) and cocaine and amphetamine regulated protein (CART; P=0.08) mRNA; animals which had the same treatment as their mothers showed lower concentration than those with different treatment from their mother. Lambs born from PUFA ewes had lower concentration of MCR-4 mRNA showing a tendency (P=0.09) than PFDA. Agouti related peptides (AGRP) mRNA concentration was lower in lambs fed with PUFA (P=0.06) (Table 1) than PFDA. None of the other genes analyzed (insulin receptor, NPY and its receptors and POMC) had significant differences (P>0.1). Fatty acids change the expression of neuropeptides and their receptors and hormones receptors mRNA in the hypothalamus. Animals fed finishing diets with fatty acids that were opposite of the fatty acids in their dam’s diet during late gestation showed higher levels of mRNA than those with the same fatty acids in their diet.

Table 1: Hypothalamic mRNA concentration in lambs fed with PUFA or PFAD and born from ewes with the similar FA supplementation.

Dam	PFAD		PUFA		P value
Lamb	PFAD	PUFA	PFAD	PUFA	Dam	Treat	DamxTreat
CCK-R	3.29	7.15	9.7	4.49	0.19	0.61	0.01
Cort-R	375.17	392.21	363.17	295.97	0.03	0.22	0.06
AGRP	12.2	10.28	18.99	5.3	0.8	0.06	0.13
CART	276.19	438.53	591.73	269.67	0.54	0.51	0.08
MCR3	8.21	20.53	22.12	6.08	0.95	0.65	0.01
MCR4	9.75	6.48	2.36	5.98	0.09	0.93	0.14