Fetal programming provides explanatory mechanisms for the currently high prevalence of gestational obesity. The endocannabinoid system (ECS) participates in the regulation of energy balance, and with a high-fat diet (HFD), it is overactivated. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of a nutritional intervention during pregnancy and lactation on obese female progenitors, on metabolic alterations of the offspring and on the involvement of ECS. Female mice (C57/BL/6-F0), 45 days old, and their offspring (males) were separated according to type of diet before and during gestation and lactation: CON-F1: control diet; HFD-F1 group: HFD (fat: 60% Kcal); INT-F1 group: HFD until mating and control diet (fat: 10% Kcal) afterward. Glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity (IS) were tested at 2 and 4 months. At 120 days, mice were sacrificed, plasma was extracted for the determination of hormones, and livers for gene expression and the protein level determination of ECS components. INT-F1 group presented a lower IS compared to CON-F1, and normal levels of adiponectin and corticosterone in relation to the HFD-F1 group. The intervention increased hepatic gene expression for fatty-acid amide hydrolase and monoacylglycerol lipase enzymes; however, these differences were not observed at the protein expression level. Our results suggest that this intervention model normalized some hormonal parameters and hepatic mRNA levels of ECS components that were altered in the offspring of progenitors with pre-pregnancy obesity.
Keywords: endocannabinoid system; fetal programming; lactation; nutritional intervention; obesity; pregnancy.