A maternal high-fat diet during pregnancy and lactation disrupts short-term memory functions via altered hippocampal glutamatergic signaling in female rat offspring

A maternal high-fat diet (HFD) provokes changes in the offspring's brain's structure, function, and development. These changes may cause neuropsychiatric disorders in the early life of offspring the basis of which may be memory impairment. In this study, the effects of maternal HFD during pregnancy and lactation on the short-term memory in adolescent and young adult offspring were evaluated. We analyzed the expression of genes encoding the glutamatergic transporters in the hippocampus to verify the association between changes in glutamatergic transporters and behavioral changes in offspring. Next, we examined whether maternal diet-induced changes in the mRNA levels of genes encoding the NMDA receptor subunits and the AMPA receptor subunits, as well as BDNF in this structure in offspring. All significant changes were validated at the protein level. We found that a maternal HFD during pregnancy and lactation disrupts short-term memory in adolescent and young adult females. The latter change is likely related to the dysregulation of hippocampal levels of GluN2B subunit of NMDA receptors and of reduced levels of BDNF. In summary, we showed that a maternal HFD during pregnancy and lactation triggered several changes within the glutamatergic system in the hippocampus of rat offspring, which may be related to producing behavioral changes in offspring. •Maternal high-fat diet (pregnancy, lactation) disrupts short-term memory in females.•Maternal high-fat diet reduced hippocampal levels of glutamatergic transporters.•Maternal high-fat diet reduced the GluN2B subunit level in the hippocampus.•Reduced levels of BDNF were seen in the hippocampus after maternal high-fat diet.