Support for a Wellcome Trust/Academy of Medical Sciences Internship (360G-Wellcome-096824_Z_11_C)

£5,825

In light of growing evidence for a transgenerational component in the current human obesity epidemic, it is important to understand how maternal environment affects the long-term health of the developing foetus. In animal models, maternal over-nutrition has been shown to programme a metabolic syndrome-like phenotype and hyperphagia in the offspring. In this project, we propose to use anestablished maternal diet-induced obesity (DIO) mouse model to investigate (i)whether exposure to a high fat, high palatable diet after weaning exacerbates the hyperphagia and increased adiposity previously seen in chow-fed offspring and (ii) how maternal DIO programmes hyperphagia in the offspring with a particular focus on the mesolimbic dopamine pathway involved in palatable feeding. For this, our key goals are to (a) characterise the behavioural phenotype of these offspring in terms of food preferences and motivated behaviours; (b) define the structural development of neural projections within the mesolimbic dopamine pathway; (c) to establish the effect of maternal DIO on gene and protein expression levels in this pathway to explore underlying biochemical mechanisms. Thes three levels of investigation will provide us with novel insight into the mechanistic and functional aspects of the developmental programming of the central control of feeding.

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Grant Details

Amount Awarded 5825
Applicant Surname Penfold
Approval Committee PhD Studentships
Award Date 2015-06-22T00:00:00+00:00
Financial Year 2014/15
Grant Programme: Title PhD Studentship (Basic)
Internal ID 096824/Z/11/C
Lead Applicant Ms Naomi Penfold
Partnership Value 5825
Planned Dates: End Date 2015-12-31T00:00:00+00:00
Planned Dates: Start Date 2015-10-01T00:00:00+00:00
Recipient Org: Country United Kingdom
Region East of England
Sponsor(s) Prof Sir Stephen O'Rahilly