Neonatal nutritional programming impairs adiponectin effects on energy homeostasis in adult life of male rats

Abstract

Neonatal nutritional changes induce long-lasting effects on energy homeostasis. Adiponectin influences food intake and body weight. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of neonatal nutritional programming on the central stimulation of adiponectin. Male Wistar rats were divided on postnatal (PN) day 3 in litters of 3 (small litter, SL), 10 (normal litter, NL), or 16 pups/dam (large litter, LL). We assessed body weight gain for 60 days, adiponectin concentration, and white adipose tissue weight. We examined the response of SL, NL, and LL rats on body weight gain, food intake, oxygen consumption (VO2), respiratory exchange ratio (RER), calorimetry, locomotor activity, phosphorylated-AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) expression in the hypothalamus, and uncoupling protein (UCP)-1 in the brown adipose tissue after central stimulus with adiponectin. After weaning, SL rats maintained higher body weight gain despite similar food intake compared with NL rats. LL rats showed lower body weight at weaning, with a catch up afterward and higher food intake. Both LL and SL groups had decreased plasma concentrations of adiponectin at PN60. SL rats had increased white adipose tissue. Central injection of adiponectin decreased body weight and food intake and increased VO2, RER, calorimetry, p-AMPK and UCP-1 expression in NL rats, but it had no effect on SL and LL rats, compared with the respective vehicle groups. In conclusion, neonatal under- and overfeeding induced an increase in body weight gain in juvenile and early adult life. Unresponsiveness to central effects of adiponectin contributes to the imbalance of the energy homeostasis in adult life induced by neonatal nutritional programming.