Fig 2: A maternal high-fat diet (HFD) during pregnancy and lactation changes the level of proteins associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the hippocampus of young adult offspring. (a) Effects of maternal HFD on ANKRD11, EIF4E, NF1, SETD1B, SHANK1, and TAOK2 protein levels in the frontal cortex of male and female offspring at PND 63. (b) Effects of maternal HFD on ANKRD11, EIF4E, NF1, SETD1B, SHANK1, and TAOK2 protein levels in the hippocampus of male and female offspring at PND 63. The results are expressed as the mean (±SEM). n = 7 rats/group. Data were analyzed by two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni post hoc test. * p < 0.05 versus the standard diet (SD) group.

Fig 3: A maternal high-fat diet (HFD) during pregnancy and lactation increased SHANK1 and TAOK2 protein levels in the prefrontal cortex (PFCx) of adolescent male offspring. (A) Schematic of the protein analysis. Rat dams were fed a standard diet (SD) or HFD during pregnancy and lactation. After weaning, offspring were changed to an SD and sacrificed at postnatal day (PND) 28 to evaluate the changes in selected proteins and miRNA expression in the PFCx. (B) Effect of the maternal HFD on ANKRD11, CACNA1D, NLGN3, SETD1B, SHANK1, and TAOK2 protein levels in the PFCx of male and female offspring at PND 28. SHANK1 (main effect of diet: F(1, 36) = 1.80, p = 0.19), diet × sex interaction: F(1, 36) = 12.40, p < 0.01); TAOK2 (main effect of diet: F(1, 36) = 1.09, p = 0.30), diet × sex interaction: F(1, 36) = 8.24, p < 0.01). (C,D) Effect of the maternal HFD on the miR-423 and miR-494 (C) and miR-17 and miR-20a (D) levels in the PFCx of male and female offspring at PND 28. miR-423 (main effect of diet: F(1, 36) = 15.78, p < 0.001), diet × sex interaction: F(1, 36) = 7.28, p < 0.05); miR-494 (main effect of diet: F(1, 36) = 13.75, p < 0.001), diet × sex interaction: F(1, 36) = 2.72, p = 0.11); miR-17 (main effect of diet: F(1, 36) = 4.61, p < 0.05), diet × sex interaction: F(1, 36) = 9.47, p < 0.01); miR-20a (main effect of diet: F(1, 36) = 9.39, p < 0.01), diet × sex interaction: F(1, 36) = 6.61, p < 0.05).Data are expressed as the mean ± SEM. n = 10 male and 10 female rats/experimental group. Data were analyzed by two-way ANOVA and the Bonferroni multiple comparison post hoc test. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001 versus SD.