Early High Fat Diet Exposure May Have Prolonged Metabolic Effects

Obesity affects approximately one in eight individuals globally, according to the World Health Organization. It is a complex disease resulting from a confluence of factors; environmental factors such as diet and physical activity as well as genetic predisposition are all contributing factors underlying obesity. Particularly noteworthy is that environmental factors such as obesogenic diets can alter the activity of epigenetic factors which ultimately leads to changes in gene expression. We have shown that exposure to high fat diet (HFD) during gestation decreases levels of an epigenetic factor known as methyl-CpG binding protein 2 (MeCP2) in the hypothalamus. It is not clear if these changes in MeCP2 expression persist when mice gestationally exposed to HFD are switched to a normal chow (NC) diet at weaning. In the current experiment, mice were exposed to either HFD or NC during gestation and maintained on the same diet after weaning or switched to the opposite diet for 12 weeks. Differences in body weight, plasma leptin and insulin levels, and protein levels of hypothalamic MeCP2 were assessed. Our findings suggest that early high fat diet exposure is sufficient to alter hypothalamic MeCP2 expression independent of diet type at time of weaning. This abstract was presented at the American Physiology Summit 2026 and is only available in HTML format. There is no downloadable file or PDF version. The Physiology editorial board was not involved in the peer review process.