Abstract
Background
Overnutrition in early life increases the risk of obesity and metabolic diseases. We investigated the effects and the window period of a curcumin (CUR) diet on postnatal overfed rats.
Methods
Male rats aged 3 days were randomly divided into normal litters (NL, 10 pups/litter) and small litters (SL, 3 pups/litter). After weaning (Week 3, W3), NL rats were fed a normal diet (NL) and SL rats were fed a normal diet (SL) or 2% CUR diet from weaning (W3) (SL-CURW13), beginning of puberty (W6) (SL-CURW16), or end of puberty (W8) (SL-CURW18) for 10 weeks.
Results
Body weight, glucose intolerance and hyperlipidemia in the SL rats were higher than in the NL rats, especially after puberty. After the CUR intervention, SL-CURW13 and SL-CURW16 rats showed lower body weight gain, adipose tissue weight and mRNA level of C/EBPα in SAT, along with higher mRNA levels of β-catenin. There was no difference between SL and SL-CURW18 rats. Glucose tolerance, serum lipids and hepatic lipids recovered to normal in the SL-CURW13 rats, but only partially in the SL-CURW16 and SL-CURW18 rats.
Conclusion
Prepuberty is a window period for CUR intervention to improve programmed outcomes in postnatal overfed rats.
Impact
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Overnutrition during the first 1000 days of life has persistent negative effects on metabolism. Strategies should be taken to prevent overnutrition in early life to reduce the risk of obesity and metabolic disease in later life.
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A small-litter rat model was utilized to simulate early-life overnutrition in humans. We investigated the different effects and critical period for curcumin intervention on postnatal overfed rats.
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Dietary curcumin intervention before puberty could effectively transform nutritional programming to reduce obesity and metabolic disorders caused by early-life overnutrition, and an earlier intervention might predict a better outcome.
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Data availability
Data included in this manuscript are available upon request by contacting the corresponding author.
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Funding
This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81773421) and the Innovation Team of Jiangsu Health (CXTDA2017035).
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Xiaonan Li designed the study. Susu Du, Nan Zhou and Wen Zheng performed the experiments. Susu Du analyzed the data and wrote the original draft. Xiaolei Zhu, Ru Ling and Wei Zhou reviewed the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
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All animal studies were approved by the University Committee on Use and Care of Animals and were overseen by the Unit for Laboratory Animal Medicine of Nanjing Medical University (ID: 1904056-1).
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Du, S., Zhou, N., Zheng, W. et al. Prepuberty is a window period for curcumin to prevent obesity in postnatal overfed rats. Pediatr Res (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-024-03154-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-024-03154-y