Background: Over half of women of reproductive age are now overweight or obese. The impact of maternal high-fat diet HFD is emerging as an important factor in the development and health of musculoskeletal tissues in offspring, however there is a paucity of evidence examining its effects on tendon. Alterations in the early life environment during critical periods of tendon growth therefore have the potential to influence tendon health that cross the lifespan.
We hypothesised that a maternal HFD would alter biomechanical, morphological and gene expression profiles of adult offspring rotator cuff tendon. Eight female and male offspring from each maternal diet group were weaned onto a standard chow diet and then culled at postnatal day for tissue collection.
Supraspinatus tendons were used for mechanical testing and histological assessment cellularity, fibre organisation, nuclei shape and tail tendons were collected for gene expression analysis. Female offspring tendon biomechanical properties were not affected by maternal HFD. Despite this, tendon histological organisation were similar between maternal diet groups in both sexes. Conclusion: An obesogenic diet during pregnancy increased tendon elasticity in male, but not female, offspring.
This is the first study to demonstrate that maternal diet can modulate the biomechanical properties of offspring tendon. A maternal HFD may be an important factor in regulating adult offspring tendon homeostasis that may predispose offspring to developing tendinopathies and adverse tendon outcomes in later life.
The impact of obesity on the musculoskeletal system is emerging as an important manifestation of the disease 3 , 4. Several clinical and epidemiological studies have demonstrated a negative association between obesity and tendon health 5 โ 7. In particular, obesity is consistently a risk factor for rotator cuff tendinopathy and tendon tear 5 , 8 โ In animal models, a high fat diet HFD has been reported to result in detrimental effects on tendon biomechanical, structural and biochemical properties 11 โ Over half of women of reproductive age are now overweight or obese 14 , 15 and approximately one in five women are obese during pregnancy Adverse maternal exposures during prenatal and early postnatal life can impair offspring health across their lifespan.
