Effect of gestational diabetes on the hippocampus of offspring

加拿大近四分之一的成年人被认为极度超重，而加拿大儿童肥胖人数的稳步增长意味着这一数字将继续增长。虽然肥胖会导致各种各样的健康问题，但最常见、最严重的问题之一是2型糖尿病（T2D）。随着糖尿病患者数量的增加，怀孕期间患糖尿病的女性数量也会相应增加。最近十年的工作发现，产妇营养可以对儿童的健康产生持久的影响；例如，母亲营养不良会导致后代成年后患心脏病的风险增加。这项拟议的研究旨在研究妊娠期糖尿病如何影响后代的发育。该提案将特别关注大脑中一个已知对创造记忆很重要的区域——海马体的发育。雌性老鼠将被喂食高脂肪的食物，就像许多人的饮食一样。随着时间的推移，这些动物将发展为T2D。在这之后，它们将被交配，并被允许分娩和哺育它们的幼崽。采用多种技术，将不同年龄的糖尿病大鼠后代海马的结构和功能与对照组大鼠进行比较。所有这些工作将有助于回答这样一个问题：如果一名妇女在怀孕期间患有糖尿病，她的孩子大脑中对学习和记忆重要的区域会受到影响吗？拟议研究的结果不仅会引起生物学家的兴趣，而且对那些参与公共卫生和政策的人也应该很重要。

Nearly one-quarter of adults in Canada are considered to be extremely overweight, and the steady increase in obesity among Canadian children means that this number will continue to grow. While obesity can lead to a wide range of health problems, one of the most common, and most serious, is type 2 diabetes (T2D). As the number of people with T2D increases, there will be a matching rise in the number of women with diabetes during their pregnancies. Recent work over the last ten years has found that maternal nutrition can have longlasting effects upon the health of children; for example, maternal undernutrition can lead to an increased risk of heart disease in offspring when they become adults. The proposed study would like to examine how diabetes in pregnancy affects offspring development. In particular, the proposal will focus on development of a brain region known to be important for creating memories - the hippocampus. Female rats will be placed on a diet that, like the diets of many people, is very high in fat. Over time, the animals will develop T2D. After this, they will be mated and allowed to deliver and nurse their pups. Using a variety of techniques, structure and function of the hippocampus in offspring of diabetic rats at different ages will be compared to those from rats fed a control diet. All of the work together will help to answer the question: if a woman has diabetes during her pegnancy, will the areas of her child's brain important for learning and memory be affected? The outcome of the proposed study will not only be of interest to biologists, but should also be important to those involved with public health and policy.