Lactational Metformin Treatment in Mouse Dams Ameliorates Maternal High-Fat Diet-induced Metabolic Complications in Male Offspring

Abstract

Maternal obesity/diabetes severely affects the offspring’s metabolism not only during the fetal and early life development but also later on in the childhood and adulthood stages. Recent evidence suggested that maternal metformin treatment during pregnancy and breastfeeding might provide long-term metabolic benefits on offspring’s glucose homeostasis. We employed a mouse model of maternal overnutrition induced by high fat diet (HFD) to investigate whether an early metformin treatment in mouse dams during lactation period attenuates the maternal HFD-induced metabolic complications in male offspring. The results showed that male offspring from metformin-exposed mothers during suckling period displayed lower body weight and decreased white fat contents. Furthermore, these male offspring had lower blood glucose levels, decreased hyperinsulinemia, enhanced glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity. Moreover, we found that short-term metformin treatment during lactation period in mouse dams solely improved the glucose tolerance of male offspring exposed with high fat diet (HFD) during both in utero and early postnatal stages, which might primarily result from an increase in insulin secretion. However, this metformin treatment in mouse dams was enabled to abolish most of the metabolic complications of the male offspring exposed with HFD during lactation period. Together, these findings suggest that an early intervention in mouse dams by metformin treatment during lactation period may provide long-term metabolic benefits in regulation of male offspring’s glucose homeostasis.