Maternal High Fructose Intake Increases the Vulnerability to Post-Weaning High-Fat Diet-Induced Programmed Hypertension in Male Offspring

Widespread consumption of high-fructose and high-fat diets relates to the global epidemic of hypertension. Hypertension may originate from early life by a combination of prenatal and postnatal nutritional insults. We examined whether maternal high-fructose diet increases vulnerability to post-weaning high-fructose or high-fat diets induced hypertension in adult offspring and determined the underlying mechanisms. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats received regular chow (ND) or chow supplemented with 60% fructose (HFR) during the entire pregnancy and lactation periods. Male offspring were onto either the regular chow, 60% fructose, or high-fat diet (HFA) from weaning to 12 weeks of age and assigned to four groups: ND/ND, HFR/ND, HFR/HFR, and HFR/HFA. Maternal high-fructose diet exacerbates post-weaning high-fat diet-induced programmed hypertension. Post-weaning high-fructose and high-fat diets similarly reduced Sirt4, Prkaa2, Prkag2, Ppara, Pparb, and Ppargc1a mRNA expression in offspring kidneys exposed to maternal high-fructose intake. Additionally, post-weaning high-fat diet significantly reduced renal mRNA levels of Ulk1, Atg5, and Nrf2 and induced greater oxidative stress than did high-fructose diet. Although maternal high-fructose intake increases soluble epoxide hydrolase (SEH) expression in the kidney, which was restored by post-weaning high-fructose and high-fat diets. Maternal high-fructose diet programs differential vulnerability to developing hypertension in male offspring in response to post-weaning high-fructose and high-fat diets. Our data implicated that specific therapy targeting on nutrient sensing signals, oxidative stress, and SEH may be a promising approach to prevent hypertension in children and mothers exposed to high-fructose and high-fat consumption.