A maternal low-protein diet impaired glucose metabolism and altered the lncRNA profiles of islets in adult offspring

Background A maternal low-protein diet during pregnancy can increase children's susceptibility to diabetes mellitus in adulthood. However, whether lncRNAs in islets participate in the development of diabetes in adult offspring following maternal protein restriction is not fully understood. Methods Female mice were fed a low-protein (LP) diet or control diet throughout gestation and lactation. The male offspring were then randomly divided into two groups according to maternal diet: offspring from control diet group dams (Ctrl group) and offspring from LP group dams (LP group). We observed the glucose metabolism of the adult offspring. A lncRNA microarray was constructed for the islets from the LP group and Ctrl group to explore the differentially expressed lncRNAs. GO enrichment and KEGG analyses were subsequently used to predict the functions of the differentially expressed lncRNAs. Results The body weight from birth to 12 weeks of age was significantly lower in the LP offspring. Adult LP offspring exhibited impaired glucose tolerance and decreased insulin secretion, consistent with the reduction in β-cell proliferation. According to the lncRNA microarray, four lncRNAs, three upregulated lncRNAs and one downregulated lncRNA, were differentially expressed in LP offspring islets compared with Ctrl offspring. GO enrichment and KEGG pathway analyses revealed that these differentially expressed lncRNAs were mostly associated with the HIF-1α signaling pathway. Additionally, we validated the expression of these four differentially expressed lncRNAs via qRT‒PCR. Conclusions Our findings demonstrated the expression patterns of lncRNAs in islets from adult offspring of mothers who consumed a maternal low-protein diet.