Offspring of female rats fed either a casein (CAS) diet or a low-isoflavone soy protein isolate (SPI) diet were compared in an animal model of chronic ethanol consumption to investigate whether maternal diet regulates the adaptive responses of offspring to postnatal ethanol exposure and potentially affects the development of liver disease in later life. Female rats were fed either a CAS or an SPI diet before mating, and during pregnancy and lactation. Male offspring from the same litter were pair-fed either a control or ethanol diet for six weeks (CAS/CON, CAS/EtOH, SPI/CON, and SPI/EtOH groups). Serum aminotransferase activities and hepatic inflammatory indicators were higher in the SPI/EtOH group than in the CAS/EtOH group. Ethanol consumption increased serum homocysteine levels, hepatic S-adenosylmethionine:S-adenosylhomocysteine ratio, and hepatic endoplasmic reticulum stress only in offspring of SPI-fed female rats. Total and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels and mRNA levels of hepatic genes involved in HDL cholesterol assembly were reduced in the SPI group in response to ethanol consumption. In conclusion, offspring of SPI-fed female rats were more susceptible to the later development of alcoholic liver disease than offspring of CAS-fed female rats. Furthermore, maternal SPI consumption altered one-carbon metabolism and cholesterol metabolism of offspring fed an ethanol diet.
Keywords: HDL cholesterol; alcoholic liver disease; one-carbon metabolism; rat offspring; soy protein isolate.