Maternal high-fat diet programs cerebrovascular remodeling in adult rat offspring.

Maternal environmental factors such as diet have consequences on later health of the offspring. We found that maternal high-fat diet (HFD) exposure renders adult offspring brain more susceptible to ischemic injury. The present study was further to investigate whether HFD consumption during rat pregnancy and lactation influences the cerebral vasculature in adult male offspring.

Maternal high-fat diet influences stroke outcome in adult rat offspring.

Diet-induced epigenetic modifications in early life could contribute to later health problem. However, it remains to be established whether high-fat diet (HFD) consumption during pregnancy and the suckling period could predispose the offspring to stroke. The present study investigated the influence of maternal HFD on stroke outcome in adult offspring.

Maternal high fat diet programs stress-induced behavioral disorder in adult offspring.

Early life exposure to specific environmental factors can contribute to development of behavioral disorders in adulthood. Although maternal high fat diet (HFD) consumption during the perinatal period has been reported to program offspring behavior, the underlying mechanisms remain to be elucidated. The present study was designed to evaluate the influence of maternal HFD on offspring behavior under nonstressed and stressful conditions, using male Sprague-Dawley offspring, which mothers were fed with HFD or normal diet (ND), receiving chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) in the adulthood.

The role of calcitonin gene-related peptide in post-stroke depression in chronic mild stress-treated ischemic rats.

Poststroke depression (PSD) is the most common psychological sequel after stroke. Although the neurological mechanisms of PSD remain to be fully elucidated, numerous studies have implicated the calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), a potent vasodilatory neuropeptide, as key modulator of the depression. A PSD rat model, which was established by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) and following chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) procedures, was used to investigate the role of CGRP in post-stroke mood disturbances.