Volume 29, Issue 4, 2020
DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2020.817
Effects of inflammatory stimulation during pregnancy on blood lipid levels and learning and memory abilities of offspring rats
Abstract
We aimed to evaluate the effects of inflammatory stimulation during pregnancy on blood lipid levels and learning and memory abilities of offspring rats. Twenty-four Sprague-Dawley pregnant rats were randomly divided into control and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation groups that were intraperitoneally injected with normal saline and LPS (0.79 mg/kg) on the 8th, 10th and 12th days of pregnancy respectively. The offspring rats were weighed 1 day after birth and weekly. The serum levels of triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein (LDL), high density lipoprotein (HDL), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) of 8-week-old male rats were tested. Serum TNF-α level was measured by ELISA. Behavioral changes were detected by the Morris water maze. Morphological changes were observed by using tissue sections. The ultrastructures of liver and thoracic aortas were observed by transmission electron microscopy. 8-OHdG expression in the liver was detected by immunofluorescence assay. Compared with the control group, the progeny of the LPS stimulation group had lower body weights 1 day and 1 week after birth (P<0.01), which then increased significantly (P<0.01).The memory ability of progeny of LPS stimulation group decreased at 8 weeks of age, and the levels of TG, TC, LDL, AST and TNF-α in the peripheral blood were significantly higher than those of the control group (P<0.05). The liver pathological changes were obvious, accompanied by evident mitochondrial damage and elevated expression of 8-OHdG. Inflammatory stimulation during pregnancy leads to mitochondrial damage in offspring, which may be associated with lipid metabolism disorders ultimately inducing atherosclerosis.
Keywords
pregnancy, inflammatory stimulation, blood lipid, learning, memory.