Purpose: The aim of this review was to summarize sex differences in glycolipid metabolic phenotypes of human and animal models after exposure to maternal hyperglycemia and overview the underlying mechanisms, providing a new perspective on the maternal hyperglycemia-triggered risk of glycolipidic disorders in offspring.
Methods: A comprehensive literature search within PubMed was performed. Selected publications related to studies on offspring exposed to maternal hyperglycemia investigating the sex differences of glycolipid metabolism were reviewed.
Results: Maternal hyperglycemia increases the risk of glycolipid metabolic disorders in offspring, such as obesity, glucose intolerance and diabetes. Whether with or without intervention, metabolic phenotypes have been shown to exhibit sex differences between male and female offspring in response to maternal hyperglycemia, which may be related to gonadal hormones, organic intrinsic differences, placenta, and epigenetic modifications.
Conclusion: Sex may play a role in the different incidences and pathogenesis of abnormal glycolipid metabolism. More studies investigating both sexes are needed to understand how and why environmental conditions in early life affect long-term health between male and female individuals.
Keywords: Glucose metabolism; Lipid metabolism; Maternal hyperglycemia; Offspring; Sex differences.
© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Italian Society of Endocrinology (SIE).