Vitamin A supplementation in early life affects later response to an obesogenic diet in rats

OBJECTIVE: To assess the influence of supplementation with a moderate dose of vitamin A in early life on adipose tissue development and the response to an obesogenic diet later in life. METHODS: During the suckling period, rat pups received a daily oral dose of retinyl palmitate corresponding to three times the vitamin A ingested daily from maternal milk. Control rats received the vehicle (olive oil). Short-term effects of treatment on gene expression and morphology of white adipose tissue (WAT) were analyzed in animals on the day after weaning (day 21). To study long-term effects, control and vitamin A-treated rats were fed, after weaning, a normal fat or a high-fat (HF) diet for 16 weeks. RESULTS: WAT of vitamin A-treated young rats (day 21) was enriched in small adipocytes with a reduced expression of adipogenic markers (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor g and lipoprotein lipase) and an increased cell proliferation potential as indicated by increased expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen. Increased retinoic acid (RA)-induced transcriptional responses were present in the tissues of vitamin A-treated young rats (day 21) including WAT. Vitamin A-treated rats developed higher adiposity than control rats on a HF diet as indicated by body composition analysis and increased WAT depot mass, adipocyte diameter, WAT DNA content, leptinemia and adipose leptin gene expression. Excess adiposity gain in vitamin A-treated rats developed in the absence of changes in body weight and was attributable to excess adipocyte hyperplasia. No differences in adiposity were observed between vitamin A-treated rats and control rats on a normal fat diet. Total retinol levels in WAT of vitamin A-treated rats were elevated at weaning (day 21) and normalized by day 135 of age. CONCLUSION: Vitamin A intake in the early stages of postnatal life favors subsequent HF diet-induced adiposity gain through mechanisms that may relate to changes in adipose tissue development, likely mediated by RA.