Efeitos do exercício físico sobre o metabolismo materno e a sua repercussão sobre a prole adulta submetida a um ambiente obesogênico

Abstract

Maternal obesity and a sedentary lifestyle in the pre-gestational and pregnancy-lactary periods can result in important metabolic deleterious effects on the metabolic health of the mother and offspring, increasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases, obesity, and diabetes. Physical exercise promotes important health benefits, however, its role is still partially understood when it comes to the maternal-offspring context. The present study aims to evaluate the effects of physical exercise in the pregnant-lactary period on the body, and metabolic and molecular parameters on maternal and adult offspring fed a hyperglycemic diet. The study was divided into two cohorts, the first being carried out with female Swiss mice randomized into three groups (n=10/group): i) control group (PD), ii) group fed with a hyperglycemic diet (HGD), and iii) group submitted to physical exercise (HGD+Ex) in the pregnancy-lactary period. After the obesity induction period, the animals were mated and the protocol of aerobic exercise was initiated during the pregnancy-lactary period, for 42 days on alternate days, at a speed of 10 m/min. The second cohort comprised the follow-up of offspring from the animals of the first cohort. Four male animals were constituted: SD/SD, SD/HGD, HGD/HGD, and HFD+Ex/HGD. Body and biochemical parameters were measured. In the lactating-pregnant period, the animals submitted to physical exercise had lower body weight than the HGD group (SD: 47.93 ± 1.77; HGD: 55.54 ± 2.97; HGD+Ex: 46.40 ± 2.66; p=0.037). These findings were followed by lower body adiposity (SD: 0.056 ± 0.004; HGD: 0.12 ± 0.018; HGD+Ex: 0.070 ± 0.009; p=0.002) and ovarian adipose tissue weight (SD: 0.035 ± 0.003; HGD: 0.083 ± 0.013; HGD+Ex: 0.044 ± 0.008; p=0.003). The maternal glycemic profile showed improved glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity in the HGD+Ex group about HGD, in addition to lower fasting glucose levels (SD: 92.17 ± 6.05; HGD: 119.0 ± 2 .54; HGD+Ex: 100.5 ± 4.66; p=0.003); for the lipid profile, differences were observed for total cholesterol levels between the HGD group vs. PD and HGD vs. HGD+Ex; for HDL-c, between HGD vs. HGD+Ex and LDL-c levels between PD vs. GHD and GHD vs. HGD+Ex. Offspring birth data showed that fetuses from mothers who underwent physical exercise had lower weight than the PD and HGD groups. For adult offspring, the body composition analysis results showed that children from HGD+Ex mothers had lower mean body weight than the SD/HGD group, for corrected body adiposity and epididymal adipose tissue weight, between HGD/ HGD vs. HGD+Ex/HGD. The glycemic profile revealed improved glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity in HGD+Ex/HGD animals compared to the other SD/HGD and HGD/HGD groups. These findings were accompanied by lower fasting glucose levels between SD/HGD vs. HGD+Ex/HGD. The lipid profile analysis results indicated statistically significant differences between SD/HGD and the SD/SD and HGD+Ex/HGD groups for total cholesterol levels; lower triglycerides in the HGD+Ex/HGD group compared to the SD/HGD and HGD/HGD groups. Taken together, these findings suggest that maternal physical exercise brings metabolic benefits to mothers and favors the metabolic phenotype of the offspring, even when submitted to an obesogenic environment.