Maternal Cold Exposure Enhances Fetal Brown Adipose Tissue Development

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is specialized for dissipating energy in the form of heat. BAT-mediated heat production is critical for effective adaption of newborns to the extrauterine environment. However, very little is known about whether and how fetal BAT development is modulated in-utero in response to changes in maternal thermal environment during pregnancy. The present study aims at determining whether maternal cold exposure influences fetal BAT development via placental remodeling. BL6 female mice were acclimated at 28?C or 18?C for 7 days prior to mating with male mice and maintained at their respective temperature until embryonic day 18.5. Placental and fetal BAT samples were collected for transcriptome analysis. Overall design: Examination of placenta and fetal BAT mRNA profiles of mice housed at 28°C or at 18°C during gestation