Sustained elevation of NF-κB activity sensitizes offspring of maternal inflammation to hypertension via impairing PGC-1α recovery

Growing evidence has demonstrated that maternal detrimental factors, including inflammation, contribute to the development of hypertension in the offspring. The current study found that offspring subjected to prenatal exposure of inflammation by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge during the second semester showed significantly increased systolic blood pressure. In addition, these offspring also displayed augmented vascular damage and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels in thoracic aortas when challenged with deoxycorticosterone acetate and high-salt diet (DOCA-salt). Interestingly, the antioxidant N-acetyl-L-cysteine markedly reversed these changes. Mechanistically, prenatal LPS exposure led to pre-existing elevated peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor-γ co-activator (PGC)-1α, a critical master of ROS metabolism, which up-regulated the ROS defense capacity and maintained the balance of ROS generation and elimination under resting state. However, continued elevation of NF-κB activity significantly suppressed the rapid recovery of PGC-1α expression response to DOCA-salt challenge in offspring that underwent prenatal inflammatory stimulation. This was further confirmed by using a NF-κB inhibitor (N-p-Tosyl-L-phenylalanine chloromethyl ketone) that restored PGC-1α recovery and prevented blood pressure elevation induced by DOCA-salt. Our results suggest that maternal inflammation programmed proneness to NF-κB over-activation which impaired PGC-1α-mediated anti-oxidant capacity resulting in the increased sensitivity of offspring to hypertensive damage.