IMR Press / RCM / Volume 23 / Issue 1 / DOI: 10.31083/j.rcm2301040
Open Access Original Research
Differential cardiac geometry during pregnancy in lean versus obese mice
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1 Department of Dietetics and Human Nutrition, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0054, USA
*Correspondence: robin.shoemaker@uky.edu (Robin Shoemaker)
Academic Editors: Carmela Rita Balistreri, Lori B. Daniels and Karol E. Watson
Rev. Cardiovasc. Med. 2022, 23(1), 40; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.rcm2301040
Submitted: 2 October 2021 | Revised: 21 November 2021 | Accepted: 24 November 2021 | Published: 20 January 2022
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Women in Cardiovascular Medicine and Science)
Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Abstract

Background: Pregnancy is a sensitive window where factors adversely affecting maternal cardiac health may leave women vulnerable to cardiovascular disease (CVD) later in life. However, it is not clear how cardiac changes during pregnancy influence long-term cardiovascular health. Obesity, an independent risk factor for CVD, promotes adverse cardiac remodeling. Effects of obesity-mediated cardiac remodeling concurrent with physiologic cardiac hypertrophy of pregnancy are not well-studied. Methods: Female C57BL/6J mice (8 weeks old) were fed a high fat (HF; 60% kcal from fat) or a control low fat (LF; 10% kcal from fat) diet for 8 weeks, then were crossed with male mice to become pregnant (P) or remained non-pregnant (NP) controls. After 18 days, cardiac morphology and function was quantified by echocardiography in LF and HF P and NP mice. Results: Lean mice had increased left ventricular (LV) mass and LV end-diastolic diameter with pregnancy. In contrast, although LV mass was greater with obesity, it was not augmented with pregnancy in obese mice. Further, pregnant obese mice had decreased LV chamber diameter and increased relative wall thickness compared to lean mice. Conclusions: We report a differential cardiac geometry during pregnancy in lean versus obese mice in a mouse model of diet-induced obesity. These data suggest obesity during pregnancy promotes concentric remodeling, versus eccentric remodeling in lean mice. Adverse effects of obesity on cardiac remodeling during pregnancy may be an important contributor to subsequent maternal cardiovascular risk.

Keywords
Maternal
Pregnancy
Cardiac hypertrophy
Cardiac remodeling
Obesity
Echocardiography
Figures
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