High-fiber Diet Mitigates Maternal Obesity-induced Cognitive and Social Dysfunction in the Offspring via Gut-brain Axis

Maternal obesity has been reported to be related to neurodevelopmental disorders in the offspring. However, the underlying mechanisms and effective interventions remain unclear. The present cross-sectional study with 778 children aged 7 to 14 years in two cities in China indicated that maternal obesity is strongly associated with children’s lower cognition and sociality. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that maternal obesity in mice disrupted the behavior and gut microbiome in offspring, both of which were restored by a high-fiber diet in either dams or offspring. Co-housing and feces microbiota transplantation experiments revealed a causal relationship between microbiota and behavioral changes. Moreover, treatment with the microbiota-derived short-chain fatty acids also alleviated the behavioral deficits in the offspring of obese dams. Together, our study indicated that the microbiota-metabolites-brain axis may underlie maternal obesity-induced cognitive and social dysfunctions, and that high dietary fiber intake could be a promising intervention.

母体肥胖与子代神经发育障碍相关的研究已有报道，但其潜在致病机制与有效干预策略仍未明确。本研究纳入中国两座城市的778名7~14岁儿童开展横断面研究（cross-sectional study），结果显示母体肥胖与子代较低的认知水平及社交能力显著相关。此外，小鼠实验证实，母体肥胖会破坏子代的行为表现与肠道菌群（gut microbiome），而无论是对孕鼠还是子代给予高纤维饮食，均可逆转上述两类异常。同笼饲养与粪便菌群移植实验证实，肠道菌群与行为改变之间存在因果关联。此外，给予菌群衍生的短链脂肪酸（short-chain fatty acids）干预，同样可缓解肥胖孕鼠子代的行为缺陷。综上，本研究表明，菌群-代谢物-脑轴（microbiota-metabolites-brain axis）可能是母体肥胖引发子代认知与社交功能障碍的潜在机制，而高膳食纤维饮食或可成为极具前景的干预手段。