Does maternal obesity during pregnancy impact offspring's liver and skeletal muscle metabolism?

Investigators identified 58 metabolites significantly altered in liver and 46 in skeletal muscle of the offspring of mothers with obesity during pregnancy, with 8 metabolites shared between both tissues. Several metabolic pathways were identified from these dysregulated metabolites. These differences in metabolites were not seen in blood samples taken from the animals.

"This study is exciting for two reasons: First it shows that exposure to an unhealthy environment in utero has long-term health consequences, and different organs and tissues are affected in different ways." said corresponding author Michael Olivier, PhD, of Wake Forest University School of Medicine. "Second, our analysis suggests you cannot just analyze blood samples to understand what is happening in the liver or muscle."

References: Isaac Ampong, Kip D. Zimmerman, Danu S. Perumalla, Katharyn E. Wallis, Ge Li, Hillary F. Huber, Cun Li, Peter W. Nathanielsz, Laura A. Cox, Michael Olivier, https://doi.org/10.1096/fj.202201473R