Effects of Milk Fat Globule Membrane Supplementation to Rats During Pregnancy and Lactation on Bone Growth and Bone Health of Offspring

The effects of maternal milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) supplementation on skeletal growth and bone health of offspring were investigated. During pregnancy and lactation, SD female rats were orally administrated with MFGM at a dose of 400 mg/kg. Offspring were weaned at postnatal day 21 and subsequently fed a high-fat diet until postnatal week 14 (adulthood). The longitudinal bone growth parameters of offspring were determined at birth (postnatal day 0), postnatal day 10 and 21. Obesity and bone health state of adult offspring rats were determined at postnatal week 14. Compared with the control group, no significant differences in body weight, body length, tail length, femur length and tibia length of offspring before weaning were found in maternal MFGM supplemented group. Similarly, there were no marked changes in the heights of proliferative and hypertrophic chondrocytes in the growth plate, nor in the expression levels of collagen type 2α (COL2α) and collagen type X (COLX), which are specific to proliferative and hypertrophic chondrocytes, respectively. However, maternal MFGM supplementation during pregnancy and lactation significantly reduced the body weight gain and accumulation of white adipose tissue caused by the high-fat diet in adult offspring compared to the control group. The number of bone marrow adipocytes was notably decreased, while the protein expression of Runx2 and OPG was upregulated significantly, and RANKL expression was downregulated significantly in the MFGM group. Although maternal MFGM supplementation had no significant effect on the longitudinal skeletal growth of pre-weaning offspring, it effectively mitigated the high-fat diet-induced accumulation of bone marrow adipocytes and improved bone metabolism in adult offspring. The study suggested that maternal supplementation with MFGM provided long-term protective effects on bone health of adult offspring.