Conclusion
In this study, we sought to evaluate the different combinations and
durations of interventions with voluntary physical exercise during the
gestational period. Although, we did not find similar combinations of
interventions in the literature as in our metabolic programming model,
it has been reported that combining a change in eating habits and
lifestyle make the benefits more effective in healthy adults
(Martinez-Avila et al., 2020; Lelis et al., 2020).
We showed that the practice of physical exercise in the control group
did not lead to maternal and offspring changes, ie, it does not cause
harm. Overall, we observed that maternal voluntary physical exercise has
a protective effect on genomic stability in mothers and their offspring,
reversing the adverse effects observed in blood and liver in response to
the chronic high consumption of maternal fructose. In addition, we
provide evidence for metabolic programming caused by the various
maternal treatments that have a lasting effect in the offspring until
adulthood. However, the intervention with VPE was not able to reach the
point of returning to the similar levels as the controls. It is possible
that the effects on pregnant mice, as well as the transplacental effect
of the direct passage of fructose, confer indirect and direct metabolic
risk to the offspring later in life. However, more studies are needed in
order to understand its long-term effects on the adult life of the
offspring and also to study other metabolic pathways.
To conclude, our data indicate that, regardless the period during which
the exercise was performed (pre-, post- or during pregnancy), the
practice of exercise during pregnancy becomes essential to obtain the
observed metabolic and genomic benefits for the mother and offspring,
and that when combined with changing to water, the benefits are even
better.
Acknowledgments: The authors would also like to thank the
Graduate Program in Health Sciences (PPGCS), Coordination for the
Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES); National Council of
Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq – 304203/2018-1); Santa
Catarina Research and Innovation Support Foundation (FAPESC); and the
University of Southern Santa Catarina (UNESC).
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of
interest.
Funding: This work was not funded.
Data Accessibility Statement: The animals body composition and
food consumption, genome damage assessment, fasting glycemia and insulin
tolerance test (ITT) are in the Microsoft Excel and Prism - GraphPad
database.
Histological analyzes were performed using the Axio Scan.Z1® (ZEISS,
Jena, Germany) to capture images of all sample areas. After
pre-processing these images with Adobe Photoshop CS6 v 13.0 ® (Adobe,
San Jose, CA) in order to improve quality and separate the images, they
were analyzed with Image Pro Plus v.4.5.0.29.
Benefit-Sharing Statement: A research collaboration was
developed with scientists from the countries providing genetic samples,
all collaborators are included as co-authors, the results of research
have been shared with the provider communities and the broader
scientific community (see above), and the research addresses a priority
concern, in this case the conservation of organisms being studied. More
broadly, our group is committed to international scientific
partnerships, as well as institutional capacity building.