Poor maternal nutrition during gestation alters prenatal muscle growth and development in offspring

We hypothesized that poor maternal nutrition during gestation would reduce the growth and development of offspring muscle prenatally, reduce the number of myogenic progenitor cells, and result in changes in the global expression of genes involved in prenatal muscle development and function. Ewes were fed a control (100% NRC)-, restricted (60% NRC),- or over-fed (140% NRC) diet beginning at day 30 of gestation until day 45, 90, and 135 of gestation or until parturition. In offspring, we report altered secondary: primary muscle fiber ratios and percent PAX7 positive cells during fetal development. In addition, changes in muscle mRNA expression were observed between maternal dietary treatments and over timepoints during gestation. In conclusion, poor maternal nutrition during gestation contributes to altered offspring muscle growth during early fetal development which persists throughout the fetal stage. Overall design: Offspring longissimus dorsi muscle samples from ewes fed control, restricted, and over-fed diet during gestation were collected from offspring at day 90 and 135 of gesetation and at birth. RNA-Seq analysis was performed on all samples at each time point to determine the effect of diet and time on gene expression.