Figure 4. Maternal obesity combined with a Western-style diet (WSD) increases oxidative damage and mitochondrial uncoupling proteins in fetal muscle.

(A) Lipid peroxidation was measured indirectly by thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) assay in fetal gastrocnemius from male (M) and female (F) offspring of lean/overweight dams that had only received control diet (Ln/CTR; n = 11 M, 8 F), Ln/WSD (n = 9 M, 8 F), and obese dams chronically fed a WSD (Ob/WSD; n = 10 M, 12 F). (B) 4-hydroxynonenal–modified (4HNE-modified) proteins were measured by immunoblot (n = 8/group). Gene expression of (C) GADD45, (D) SIRT3, (E) UCP2, and (F) UCP3 was measured by qPCR and expressed relative to ribosomal protein S15 (RPS15) from Ln/CTR (n = 5–6 M, 7–9 F), Ln/WSD (n = 3–5 M, 3–4 F) and Ob/WSD (19–11 M, 7–9 F). All data were analyzed by 2-way ANOVA (maternal group × fetal sex) with Tukey post-hoc tests. P values for significant main effects are listed in each graph. Letters are used to indicate significant post-hoc differences (P < 0.05) between maternal groups. Bars with the same letter are not significantly different from each other. Asterisk (*) indicates significant difference between male and female offspring. Individual data points and the group mean + SEM are shown.