Maternal diabetes mellitus (DM) is an established risk factor for metabolic dysfunction in offspring, increasing their propensity to develop diabetes later in life. The molecular mediators that contribute to this intergenerational risk are not fully defined. This study probed the potential role of the adipokine asprosin in that pathway by measuring circulating asprosin in diabetic mothers and their offspring in a rat model.
Twelve pregnant Wistar rats were randomized into two groups: a streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic group (n = 6) and a non-diabetic control group (n = 6). Diabetes induction was performed using STZ, and DM status was confirmed by measuring blood glucose 72 hours after STZ administration; DM was defined as blood glucose >250 mg/dL.
Male offspring were followed to 16 weeks of age. At 16 weeks postnatal, six male offspring from each maternal group were euthanized and plasma samples were collected for biochemical analysis.
Circulating asprosin concentrations in dams and offspring were quantified using a commercial ELISA kit. The abstract reports mean values and standard deviations for asprosin concentrations in both dams and offspring and indicates correlation analyses between asprosin and metabolic parameters. Specifics about which atherogenic lipid parameters and exact glucose homeostasis indices were measured are referenced in the abstract but not enumerated there.
Group means were compared and correlations between asprosin and metabolic variables were assessed. The abstract reports P values for between-group comparisons of asprosin and mentions significant correlations in diabetic mothers between asprosin and lipid/glucose indices. Exact statistical tests used, adjustment methods, or sample size calculations are not detailed in the abstract.
Maternal circulating asprosin concentrations were significantly higher in the STZ-induced diabetic dams compared with non-diabetic controls. Reported values were 330.70 ± 78.13 pg/mL for diabetic dams versus 244.00 ± 21.54 pg/mL for controls, with a P value of 0.02.
In the diabetic mothers, asprosin showed significant correlations with atherogenic lipid parameters and indices of glucose homeostasis. The abstract indicates these correlations were present in diabetic dams but does not provide correlation coefficients, the exact lipid measures correlated, or P values for those correlations.
At 16 weeks of age, circulating asprosin concentrations in male offspring did not differ between the groups exposed in utero to diabetic versus non-diabetic mothers. Reported offspring values were 234.50 ± 10.60 pg/mL for one group versus 235.00 ± 7.23 pg/mL for the other, with a P value of 0.92, indicating no significant between-group difference.
Furthermore, unlike in diabetic mothers, no significant correlations were observed between asprosin and atherogenic lipid parameters or glucose homeostasis indices in offspring from either maternal group, according to the abstract.
These preliminary experimental findings indicate that while maternal diabetes is associated with elevated circulating asprosin in dams and with correlations between asprosin and metabolic risk markers in those dams, the same elevation and associations were not observed in the offspring at 16 weeks of age. Based on the reported data, the authors suggest that asprosin may not be a critical mediator of the intergenerational transmission of diabetes-associated metabolic dysfunction in this rat model.
The conclusion is framed as preliminary, reflecting limitations inherent to the study design and reporting in the abstract.
The authors declared no competing interests.
The abstract does not report several methodological details that would be relevant to interpretation: full lists of lipid and glucose homeostasis measures, sample size justification, precise statistical tests and correlation coefficients, whether female offspring were assessed, longitudinal changes in offspring beyond 16 weeks, or whether tissue-level asprosin expression or mechanistic assays were performed. Those details were not reported in the abstract and would need to be reviewed in the full article for a complete assessment.