Nutrición Hospitalaria
ISSN 1699-5198 ISSN 0212-1611
PAULA, Bruna Morais Faleiros de; TAKEUCHI, Paula Lumy VANNUCCHI, Helio. Folic acid-deficient diet during gestation and post-weaning alters Pomc gene and protein expression in rat offspring. []. , 36, 6, pp.1354-1360. 24--2020. ISSN 1699-5198. https://dx.doi.org/10.20960/nh.025916.
Background:
folic acid participates in one-carbon metabolism, which supplies methyl groups to numerous reactions in the body. Impaired delivery of these methyl groups affects gene expression. We hypothesize that offspring exposed to less folic acid will express higher levels of Pomc (proopiomelanocortin) gene mRNA.
Aim:
to investigate the Pomc gene and protein expression pattern in the female offspring of female rats receiving a folic acid-deficient diet during gestation, lactation, and post-weaning.
Methods:
the study involved female rat offspring (n = 10) born from mothers subjected to a control (2.0 mg of folic acid/kg of food) or folic acid-deficient (0.5 mg of folic acid/kg of food) diet, and fed the same diet during post-weaning. Samples were collected from the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus of the female offspring for real-time PCR and Western blotting analyses.
Results:
the female offspring in the folic acid-deficient diet group had significantly higher Pomc gene and protein expression than the female offspring in the control diet group (p = 0.03, p = 0.01, respectively).
Conclusion:
a folic acid-deficient diet during gestation, lactation, and post-weaning increases Pomc gene and protein expression, but does not modify food intake or body weight of female rat offspring.
: Epigenetics; Folic acid; Gene expression; Proopiomelanocortin; Protein expression.