Maternal Western-style diet in nonhuman primates leads to offspring islet adaptations including altered gene expression and insulin hypersecretion

Maternal overnutrition is associated with increased susceptibility to type 2 diabetes in the offspring. Rodent models have shown that maternal overnutrition influences islet function in offspring. To determine whether maternal Western-style diet (WSD) alters prejuvenile islet function in a model that approximates that of human offspring, we utilized a well-characterized Japanese macaque model. We compared islet function from offspring exposed to WSD throughout pregnancy and lactation and weaned to WSD (WSD/ WSD) compared with islets from offspring exposed only to postweaning WSD (CD/WSD) at 1 yr of age. WSD/WSD offspring islets showed increased basal insulin secretion and an exaggerated increase in glucose-stimulated insulin secretion, as assessed by dynamic ex vivo perifusion assays, relative to CD/WSD-exposed offspring. We probed potential mechanisms underlying insulin hypersecretion using transmission electron microscopy to evaluate I3-cell ultrastructure, qRT-PCR to quantify candidate gene expres-sion, and Seahorse assay to assess mitochondrial function. Insulin granule density, mitochondrial density, and mitochondrial DNA ra-tio were similar between groups. However, islets from WSD/WSD male and female offspring had increased expression of transcripts known to facilitate stimulus-secretion coupling and changes in the expression of cell stress genes. Seahorse assay revealed increased spare respiratory capacity in islets from WSD/WSD male offspring. Overall, these results show that maternal WSD feeding confers changes to genes governing insulin secretory coupling and results in insulin hypersecretion as early as the postweaning pe-riod. The results suggest a maternal diet leads to early adaptation and developmental programming in offspring islet genes that may underlie future I3-cell dysfunction.

Automated summary

Maternal overnutrition is associated with increased susceptibility to type 2 diabetes in the offspring. Rodent models have shown that maternal overnutrition influences islet function in offspring. Using a Japanese macaque model, this study found that maternal Western-style diet altered prejuvenile islet function in offspring, leading to insulin hypersecretion and changes in gene expression associated with insulin secretion.