Maternal Brown Fat Thermogenesis Programs Glucose Tolerance in the Male Offspring

We tested if minor changes in environmental temperature during pregnancy can severely alter the phenotype of the offspring already in the next generation. Genome-wide expression profiling of liver samples obtained from adult male mice offspring identified several alterations in the hepatic transcriptomic landscape, thus demonstrating that even minor differences in the demand for maternal thermogenesis profoundly and permanently alter hepatic gene activity in the adult offspring. Liver gene expression data of offspring from dams that were kept at different ambient temperatures (30°C, 23°C, 18°C, 10°C) only during pregnancy. Five adult male mice per maternal condition (30°C, 23°C, 18°C, 10°C) were analysed (4 group comparison).