Obesity during pregnancy in the mouse alters the Netrin‐1 responsiveness of foetal arcuate nucleus neuropeptide Y neurones

When individuals undergo gestation in an obese dam, they are at increased risk for impairments in the ability of the brain to regulate body weight. In rodents, gestation in an obese dam leads to a number of changes to the development of the hypothalamic neurones that regulate body weight, including reduced neuronal connectivity at birth. In the present study, we aimed to clarify how this neural circuitry develops normally, as well as to explore the mechanism underpinning the deficiency in connectivity seen in foetuses developing in obese dams. First, we developed an in vitro model for observing and manipulating the axonal growth of foetal arcuate nucleus (ARN) neuropeptide (NPY) neurones. We then used this model to test 2 hypotheses: (i) ARN NPY neurones respond to Netrin‐1, one of a small number of axon growth and guidance factors that regulate neural circuit formation throughout the developing brain; and (ii) Netrin‐1 responsiveness would be lost upon exposure to the inflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)‐6, which is elevated in foetuses developing in obese dams. We observed that ARN NPY neurones responded to Netrin‐1 with a significant expansion of their growth cones, comprising the terminal apparatus that neurones use to navigate. Unexpectedly, we found further that NPY neurones from obese pregnancies had a reduced responsiveness to Netrin‐1, raising the possibility that ARN NPY neurones from foetuses developing in obese dams were phenotypically different from normal NPY neurones. Finally, we observed that IL‐6 treatment of normal NPY neurones in vitro led to a reduced growth cone responsiveness to Netrin‐1, essentially causing them to behave similarly to NPY neurones from obese pregnancies. These results support the hypothesis that IL‐6 can disrupt the normal process of axon growth from NPY neurones, and suggest one possible mechanism for how the body weight regulating circuitry fails to develop properly in the offspring of obese dams.