Sex differences in the impact of parental obesity on offspring cardiac SIRT3 expression, mitochondrial efficiency and diastolic function early in life

Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2021 Jul 23. doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.00176.2021. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTPrevious studies suggest that parental obesity may adversely impact long-term metabolic health of the offspring. We tested the hypothesis that parental (paternal + maternal) obesity impairs cardiac function in the offspring early in life. Within 1-3 days after weaning, offspring from obese rats fed a high fat diet (HFD-Offs) and age-matched offspring from lean rats (ND-Offs) were submitted to echocardiography and cardiac catheterization for assessment of pressure-volume relationships. Then, hearts were digested and isolated cardiomyocytes were used to determine contractile function, calcium transients, proteins related to calcium signaling, and mitochondrial bioenergetics. Female and male HFD-Offs were heavier (72±2 and 61±4 vs 57±2 and 49 ±1 g), hyperglycemic (112±8 and 115±12 vs 92±10 and 96±8 mg/dL), with higher plasma insulin and leptin concentrations compared to female and male ND-Offs. Compared to male controls, male HFD-Offs exhibited similar systolic function but impaired diastolic function as indicated by increased IVRT (22±1 vs. 17±1), E/E' ratio (29±2 vs. 23±1) and Tau (5.7±0.2 vs. 4.8±0.2). The impaired diastolic function was associated with reduced resting free Ca2+ levels and phospholamban protein expression, increased activated matrix metalloproteinase 2 and reduced SIRT3 protein expression, mitochondrial ATP reserve and ATP-linked respira...
Source: American Journal of Physiology. Heart and Circulatory Physiology - Category: Physiology Authors: Source Type: research