A maternal high-fat diet is accompanied by alterations in the fetal primate metabolome

Objective: To characterize the serum metabolome of a primate model of in utero high-fat exposure. Study Design: Serum from maternal and fetal (e130) macaque monkeys exposed to either a high-fat or control diet were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Multivariate data analysis was performed to reduce the generated data set. Candidate metabolites were further analyzed for significance by using the analysis of variance and comparative t tests. Results: Approximately 1300 chromatographic features were detected. Through multivariate data analysis this number was reduced to 60 possible metabolites. With the use of comparative t tests, 22 metabolites had statistical significance (P < .05) over the entire study. By virtue of maternal high-fat diet alone, fetal phenotypic differences are accompanied by altered metabolite concentrations of 7 metabolites (P < .05). Conclusion: In utero high-fat diet exposure is associated with an altered fetal epigenome and parlays a characteristic modification in the fetal metabolite profile.