The increasing prevalence of obesity and its effects on our society warrant intensifying basic animal research for understanding why habitual intake of highly palatable foods has increased due to recent global environmental changes. Here, we report that pregnant mice that consume a diet high in omega-6 (n-6) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and low in omega-3 (n-3) PUFAs (an n-6^high/n-3^low diet), whose n-6/n-3 ratio is approximately 120, induces hedonic consumption in the offspring by upregulating the midbrain dopaminergic system. We found that exposure to the n-6^high/n-3^low diet specifically increases the consumption of palatable foods via increased mesolimbic dopamine release. In addition, neurodevelopmental analyses revealed that this induced hedonic consumption is programmed during embryogenesis, as dopaminergic neurogenesis is increased during in utero access to the n-6^high/n-3^low diet. Our findings reveal that maternal consumption of PUFAs can have long-lasting effects on the offspring’s pattern for consuming highly palatable foods.

肥胖症的日益流行及其对我们社会的影响需要加强基础动物研究，以了解为什么由于最近的全球环境变化，人们习惯性地摄入了高可口食物。在这里，我们报告了食用富含omega-6 ( n -6) 多不饱和脂肪酸 (PUFA) 和低 omega-3 ( n -3)多不饱和脂肪酸（n -6^高/ n -3^低）的饮食的怀孕小鼠饮食），其n -6/ n -3 比率约为 120，通过上调中脑多巴胺能系统诱导后代的快感消耗。我们发现暴露于n -6^高/n -3^低饮食特别通过增加中脑边缘多巴胺的释放来增加可口食物的消耗。此外，神经发育分析表明，这种诱导的快感消耗是在胚胎发生期间编程的，因为在子宫内获得n -6^高/ n -3^低饮食期间多巴胺能神经发生增加。我们的研究结果表明，母体摄入多不饱和脂肪酸会对后代食用高可口食物的模式产生长期影响。