Evaluation of hepatic regeneration capacity and differential microRNAs expression in offspring from obese dams after a partial hepatectomy procedure

Abstract

In recent decades, obesity and metabolic syndrome have become diseases of high prevalence worldwide. Changes in lifestyle and eating habits, especially during critical periods of development, lead the progeny to important metabolic alterations through epigenetic mechanisms, such as modulation of miRNA expression, contributing to the maintenance of a "vicious cycle" of obesity and its comorbidities. Recent studies have shown that maternal obesity induces mitochondrial damage and activates inflammatory processes, changing the hepatic lipid metabolism in offspring. These alterations could increase the predisposition to developing diseases such as NAFLD, a disease characterized by TAG accumulation in hepatocytes which leads more than 20% of affected people to some type of liver resection. It is known that liver fat accumulation can be a detrimental factor in the regeneration process, although the mechanisms involved in this process are not well defined. Therefore, the aim of this work is to investigate whether offspring from obese dams have disturbances in the liver regeneration process following surgical resection procedure, and the relationship of its regeneration process with the expression of microRNAs involved in tissue repair modulation and cell cycle.