In utero insults to growing fetus impact its health in adulthood. Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are involved in lipoprotein metabolism in the liver and vary both quantitively and qualitatively on feeding adult rats a diet rich in cholesterol. However, no reports are available to show the modulation of GAGs when the offspring are subjected to a high cholesterol diet in gestation and lactation stages. Hypercholesterolemia in pregnant rats was induced by feeding an AIN-93 diet supplemented with 0.5% cholesterol. The pups born to mothers fed with high cholesterol diet showed a significant increase in cholesterol and triglycerides accumulation in the liver. Quantitative changes in sulfated glycosaminoglycans (sGAGs), in particular of heparan sulfate, were observed across the developmental stages. Other players involved in lipoprotein metabolism, namely low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1, apolipoprotein E, and low-density lipoprotein receptor expression levels, also showed differential changes across developmental stages. Interestingly, when pups from hypercholesterolemic mothers were fed a normal diet after weaning until adulthood, a considerable amount of fat accumulation in the liver was observed, implicating fetal exposure to early high cholesterol exposure on long term health.

在子宫内侮辱成长中的胎儿会影响其成年后的健康。糖胺聚糖 (GAG) 参与肝脏中的脂蛋白代谢，并且在给成年大鼠喂食富含胆固醇的饮食时在数量和质量上都有所不同。然而，没有报告显示当后代在妊娠期和哺乳期接受高胆固醇饮食时 GAG 的调节。通过喂食补充有 0.5% 胆固醇的 AIN-93 饮食诱导怀孕大鼠的高胆固醇血症。喂食高胆固醇饮食的母亲所生的幼崽表现出肝脏中胆固醇和甘油三酯积累的显着增加。在整个发育阶段观察到硫酸化糖胺聚糖 (sGAG)，特别是硫酸乙酰肝素的数量变化。其他参与脂蛋白代谢的参与者，即低密度脂蛋白受体相关蛋白1、载脂蛋白E和低密度脂蛋白受体表达水平，也显示出不同发育阶段的差异变化。有趣的是，当来自高胆固醇母亲的幼崽在断奶至成年后喂食正常饮食时，观察到肝脏中有大量脂肪堆积，这表明胎儿早期暴露于高胆固醇对长期健康有影响。