Skip to main content
NUTRITION 2025 Main banner

Maternal, Perinatal and Pediatric Nutrition (Poster Session)

(P27-097-25) The Transgenerational Inheritance of Obesity: Maternal High-Fat Diet Drives Inflammatory Transcriptomic Signatures in Offspring Adipose Tissue

Monday, June 2, 2025
11:45 AM - 12:45 PM ET
Location: Poster Board C-1

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Umesh D. Wankhade, PHD

    Assistant Professor
    University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
    Little Rock, Arkansas, United States

    • Co-Author(s)

  • SG

    Shashank C. G

    University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
    Little Rock, Arkansas, United States

  • RM

    Raga Mandali

    Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
    Little Rock, Arkansas, United States

  • HP

    Henry A. Paz, PhD

    Postdoctoral Fellow
    UAMS
    Little Rock, Arkansas, United States

  • JS

    James D. Sikes

    Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center, United States

  • YZ

    Ying Zhong, MD

    Arkansas Children’s Research Institute
    Little Rock, Arkansas, United States

Disclosure(s):
Umesh D. Wankhade, PHD: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
Henry A. Paz, PhD: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.


Objectives: This study aims to determine how maternal high-fat diet (HFD) influences the transcriptomic profile of offspring adipose tissue at an early age, focusing on identifying unique gene expression changes that may predispose offspring to obesity and metabolic dysfunction. It is hypothesized that maternal HFD induces metabolic alterations in offspring adipose tissue, contributing to an increased risk of obesity and metabolic dysfunction in offspring.

Methods: Using a mouse model of diet-induced maternal obesity, we investigated the effects of maternal HFD on offspring adipose tissue gene expression. Female mice were fed either a control or HFD before and during pregnancy, and their offspring were subsequently challenged with either a control or HFD for 9 weeks post-weaning. Upon euthanization at 13 weeks, inguinal WAT was collected and RNA was isolated for RNA sequencing (RNAseq).

Results: Principal component analysis revealed distinct clustering of samples based on maternal diet, indicating that maternal HFD exerts a strong influence on offspring transcriptomic profiles. Maternal HFD altered the expression of 104 unique genes in offspring adipose tissue (±2 fold change, adj-p < 0.05). Gene ontology enrichment analysis identified biological processes associated with the altered genes, including inflammation, adipogenesis, adipose tissue browning, and leptin signaling.

Conclusions: Maternal HFD induces specific transcriptional changes in offspring adipose tissue, affecting key processes such as inflammation, adipogenesis etc. These findings highlight potential molecular mechanisms underlying the increased risk of obesity and metabolic dysfunction in the offspring of mothers with diet-induced obesity.

Funding Sources: USDA-ARS Project 6026-10700-007-00D