Early life fluoxetine treatment causes long-term lean phenotype in skeletal muscle of rats exposed to maternal lard-based high-fat diet.

There is a concern about early life exposure to Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) in child development and motor system maturation. Little is known, however, about the interaction of environmental factors, such as maternal nutrition, associated with early exposure to SSRI. The increased maternal consumption of high-fat diets is worrisome and affects serotonin system development with repercussions in body phenotype. This study aimed to assess the short- and long-term effects of neonatal fluoxetine treatment on the body and skeletal muscle phenotype of rats exposed to a maternal lard-based high-fat (H) diet during the perinatal period. A maternal lard-based high-fat diet causes reduced birth weight, a short-term reduction in type IIA fibers in the soleus muscle, and in type IIB fibers in the Extensor Digitorum Longus (EDL) muscle, reducing Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH) activity in both muscles. In the long-term, the soleus showed reduced muscle weight, smaller area and perimeter of muscle fibers, while the EDL muscle showed reduced Citrate Synthase (CS) activity in offspring from the rats on the maternal lard-based high-fat diet. Early-life exposure to fluoxetine reduced body weight and growth and reduced soleus weight and enzymatic activity in young rats. Exposure to neonatal fluoxetine in adult rats caused a decreased body mass index, less food intake, and reduced muscle weight with reduced CS and LDH activity. Neonatal fluoxetine in young rats exposed to a maternal lard-based high-fat diet caused reduced body weight and growth, reduced soleus weight as well as area and perimeter of type I muscle fibers. In adulthood, there was a reduction in food intake, increased proportion of IIA type fibers, reduced area and perimeter of type IIB, and reduction in levels of CS activity in EDL muscle. Neonatal fluoxetine treatment in rats exposed to a maternal lard-based, high-fat diet induces a reduction in muscle weight, an increase in the proportion of oxidative fibers and greater oxidative enzymatic activity in adulthood.