Postnatal programming of glucocorticoid metabolism in rats modulates high-fat diet-induced regulation of visceral adipose tissue glucocorticoid exposure and sensitivity and adiponectin and proinflammatory adipokines gene expression in adulthood.

OBJECTIVE: Alterations of the perinatal environment, which lead to increased prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in adulthood, program an upregulation of systemic and/or adipose tissue glucocorticoid metabolism (11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 [11 beta-HSD-1]-induced corticosterone reactivation). We hypothesized that postnatal programming could modulate high-fat diet-induced adipose tissue dysregulation in adulthood. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We compared the effects of chronic (since weaning) high- or low-fat diet in postnatally normofed (control) or overfed (programmed) rats.
RESULTS: Postnatal programming accentuated high-fat diet-induced overweight, insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, and decrease in circulating and epididymal adipose tissue adiponectin. Neither manipulation altered liver function. Postnatal programming or high-fat diet increased systemic corticosterone production, which was not further modified when both manipulations were associated. Postnatal programming suppressed high-fat diet-induced decrease in mesenteric adipose tissue (MAT) glucocorticoid sensitivity and triggered high-fat diet-induced increase in MAT glucocorticoid exposure, subsequent to enhanced MAT 11 beta-HSD-1 gene expression. MAT tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, TNF-receptor 1, interleukin (IL)-6, resistin, and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 mRNAs were not changed by high-fat feeding in control rats and showed a large increase in programmed animals, with this effect further enhanced by high-fat diet for TNF-alpha and IL-6.
CONCLUSIONS: Our data show for the first time that postnatal manipulation programs high-fat diet-induced upregulation of MAT glucocorticoid exposure, sensitivity, and inflammatory status and therefore reveal the pivotal role of the environment during the perinatal period on the development of diet-induced adipose tissue dysregulation in adulthood. They also urge the need for clinical trials with specific 11 beta-HSD-1 inhibitors.