Fig 2: Downregulated histone acetylation and impaired CRH or its receptor expression in the hypothalamus of LPS-exposed offspring. (A) HDAC activity in the hypothalamus of control and LPS-exposed offspring rats was determined using HDAC Activity Colorimetric Assay Kit (n = 9 per group, two-tailed t-test). (B) HDAC1, HDAC2, HDAC3, and HDAC8 mRNA expression in the hypothalamus of control and LPS-exposed offspring rats, as detected using qPCR and normalized to GAPDH (n = 6 per group, two-tailed t-test). (C and D) Western blot and quantification analyses of HDAC1, HDAC2, HDAC3, HDAC8, and acH3 in the hypothalamus of control and LPS-exposed offspring rats (n = 3 per group, two-tailed t-test). (E) Western blot and quantification analyses of CRH, CRHR1, and CRHR2 in the hypothalamus of control and LPS-exposed offspring rats (n = 3 per group, two-tailed t-test). Data are expressed as mean ± SEM. **P < 0.01, *P < 0.05.

Fig 3: Effects of VAD and VAS on the expression of CEACAM1 and HDACs in the offspring's colon tissue. (A) Numbers of DEGs between the VAN vs. VAD groups and those between the VAD vs. VAS groups (n = 10 per group). (B) The heatmap of common DEGs (n = 10 per group). (C) GSEA analysis on histone deacetylase complex between the VAN and VAD groups (n = 10 per group). (D) Comparison of Ceacam1 mRNA expression levels among the groups (n = 10 per group). (E) Western blotting analysis of CEACAM1 protein levels among the groups. (F) Comparison of CEACAM1 protein levels among the groups (n = 6 per group). (G) Western blotting analysis of HDAC1, HDAC2, HDAC3, and HDAC8 levels among the groups. (H–K) Comparison of HDAC1, HDAC2, HDAC3, and HDAC8 protein levels among the groups (n = 3 per group). Values are presented as the mean ± SEM. Significance was tested with one-way ANOVA. ∗P < 0.05, ∗∗P < 0.01; ns, not significant.