FIG. 4.

Maternal HF diet intake increased follicular atresia due to apoptosis in adult offspring at P120. P120 offspring born to HF-fed dams had similar numbers of primordial, transitioning, primary, secondary, and antral follicles (a); however, these offspring had more type II atretic follicles (a) than offspring born to CON-fed dams (n = 9, CON; n = 6, HF). Maternal HF diet during pregnancy and lactation resulted in a significant increase in caspase-3 immunostaining, expressed as a proportion of positive immunostaining per total area analyzed in adult offspring (b) (n = 3, CON; n = 3, HF). HF offspring also demonstrated an increase in circulating FSH:E₂ ratio (c), which was driven by a significant increase in circulating FSH (d), without a decrease in circulating E₂ (e) in these offspring. Offspring of HF-fed dams had significantly lower circulating concentrations of LH (f) (n = 9, CON; n = 6, HF for plasma measurements). Data are mean ± SEM fold changes relative to CON offspring for follicle counts. Student unpaired t-test, *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01.