Maternal Obesity-Induced Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Causes Metabolic Alterations and Abnormal Hypothalamic Development in the Offspring

The steady increase in the prevalence obesity and associated type II diabetes is a major health concern, particularly among children. Maternal obesity represents a risk factor that contributes to metabolic perturbations in the offspring. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress has emerged as a critical mechanism involved in leptin resistance and type 2 diabetes in adult individuals. Here, we used a mouse model of maternal obesity to investigate the importance of early life ER stress in the nutritional programming of metabolic disease. Offspring of obese dams displayed increased body weight, adiposity, food intake and developed glucose intolerance. Moreover, maternal obesity disrupted the development of melanocortin circuits associated with neonatal hyperleptinemia and leptin resistance. ER stress-related genes were upregulated in the hypothalamus of neonates born to obese mothers and neonatal treatment with the ER stress-relieving drug tauroursodeoxycholic acid improved metabolic and neurodevelopmental deficits and reverses leptin resistance in neonates born to obese dams.