Sex-dependent phenotypes of anxiety and palatable food-seeking in offspring born from rats exposed to a high-fat diet.

INTRODUCTION: Fat-rich diet not only affects individuals who consume it, but it can also impact their offspring, leading to inherited metabolic disruption and potentially modifying behavior. Behavioral changes may favor a preference for palatable foods and the emergence of anxiety-like behaviors. This study aimed to evaluate the preference for palatable food, food-seeking, and anxiety behaviors in the offspring (F1) of parents that consumed a high-fat diet (F0). METHODS: Wistar rats were maintained for 18 weeks after weaning in one of two dietary conditions: 1) chow (C) or 2) high-fat diet (HF). Diet-specific mated parents (F0) were used to obtain the offspring (F1), forming four groups based on parental diet: 1) both parents fed chow diet (C-Pa), 2) father fed HF diet and mother fed chow diet (HF-Fa), 3) mother fed HF diet and father fed chow diet (HF-Mo), and 4) both parents fed HF diet (HF-Pa). Offspring were only exposed to the regular chow diet. At 40 days of age, the offspring were exposed to a modified open field test to evaluate food-seeking and anxiety behaviors. Starting on PN41 all groups were exposed to 10% sucrose solution for 1 hr daily for 3 weeks and then were evaluated in the place preference light/dark box test to measure the motivation to consume sucrose water in the light compartment. RESULTS: Male and female offspring (F1) from the HF-Pa group gained more body weight and consumed more chow; females HF-Pa exhibited fewer anxiety-like behaviors in the modified open field test and lower palatable food seeking behaviors, while male HF-Pa showed lower food seeking behavior for chow. After 3 weeks of sucrose administration HF-Pa males and females showed less motivation to consume sucrose water in the light/dark box test. DISCUSSION: Offspring born from both parents consuming HF diet present the most significant metabolic and behavioral changes, with more pronounced effects in females; indicating that a fat rich diet when consumed by both parents is a risk factor for their offspring by affecting anxiety and palatable food-seeking behaviors.