Gestational high fat diet protects 3xTg offspring from memory impairments, synaptic dysfunction and brain pathology

Maternal history for sporadic Alzheimer’s disease (AD) predisposes the offspring to the disease later in life. However, the mechanisms behind this phenomenon are still unknown. Lifestyle and nutrition can directly modulate susceptibility to AD. Herein we investigated whether gestational high fat diet influences the offspring susceptibility to AD later in life. Triple transgenic dams were administered high-fat diet or regular chow throughout 3 weeks gestation. Offspring were fed regular chow throughout their life and tested for spatial learning and memory, brain amyloidosis, tau pathology and synaptic function. Gestational high fat diet attenuated memory decline, synaptic dysfunction, amyloid-β and tau neuropathology in the offspring by transcriptional regulation of BACE-1, CDK5 and tau gene expression via the up-regulation of FOXP2 repressor. Gestational high fat diet protects offspring against the development of the AD phenotype. In-utero dietary intervention could be implemented as preventative strategy against AD.