Hippocampal apoptosis involved in learning deficits in the offspring exposed to maternal high sucrose diets

The hippocampus plays a crucial role in learning and memory, and neuronal apoptosis in the hippocampus contributes to learning deficits. Metabolism problems in pregnancy related to excessive fuel consumption (e.g., high fat, high sugar) may influence cognitive and behavioral functions in the offspring by affecting developing brain cells. This study determined the influence of maternal high sucrose (HS) diets on behavior and hippocampal neurons in the young offspring. The ratio of brain weight to body weight in the offspring exposed to prenatal HS diets was significantly decreased; the Morris water maze showed that the offspring exposed to prenatal HS diets exhibited increased escape latencies and path length during navigation testing, while there were no changes in time spent in the target quadrant and number of target approaches. In the offspring exposed to prenatal HS, TUNEL-positive cells were significantly increased in CA1, CA2 and CA3 of the hippocampus; protein expression of insulin-like growth factor-I, PI3K and phosphorylated Akt was significantly decreased, while caspase-3 and N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors were significantly increased in the hippocampus, and there was no change in expression of Bcl-2 and Akt. The results demonstrated that prenatal HS diets could induce the spatial acquisition deficits in the young offspring associated with hippocampal apoptosis, and altered signaling factors for antiapoptosis in the hippocampus might play a critical role in cognition disorders in young children.