Postweaning diet affects offspring metabolic outcomes more than maternal diet in male and female mice

Abstract The pervasiveness of obesity necessitates expanded pursuits to understand mechanistic drivers of the condition. Maternal diet during conception and gestation can program offspring towards excessive weight gain. Furthermore, the association between obesity and hypertension suggests that maternal programming may impact offspring vascular reactivity. We investigated whether a maternal high fat+sucrose diet (HFD) prior and during pregnancy and lactation affected offspring body composition, metabolic parameters, and vascular reactivity. Using C57BLJ/6 mice, male and female offspring from control (low fat/sucrose) and HFD fed mothers were fed either a control or HFD for 14 weeks after weaning. After 14 weeks of postweaning diets, linear mixed effect modeling adjusting for sex and litter revealed that offspring HFD and sex were significant drivers of body composition changes, non‐fasting serum insulin, serum leptin, and metabolic measures (respiratory exchange ratio, energy expenditure, and food intake). Offspring sex had significant effects on fasting glucose and non‐fasting triglycerides. Neither maternal nor offspring diet or sex had significant effects on mesenteric artery contractility in the presence or absence of perivascular adipose fat. In conclusion, in our experimental paradigm, offspring diet and sex effects on body composition and metabolic parameters overshadowed maternal HFD programming in male and female offspring.