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Figure 3. Schematic diagram representing a summary of the effects of increased maternal nutrition on food intake, plasma Glc concentrations, and regulation of expression of the appetite-regulating neuropeptides in the lamb in early postnatal life. We speculate that increased maternal nutrition results in increased milk intake in lambs in the early postnatal period, which results in an increase in circulating Glc concentrations, which leads to an increase in adipose tissue deposition. The increase in fat mass leads to down-regulation of OBRb mRNA in the arcuate nucleus and therefore results in a resistance of CART-expressing neurons to the central actions of leptin. Consequently, the central anorexigenic neuropeptide CART is no longer up-regulated appropriately in response to increases in fat mass. The development of central leptin resistance increases the subsequent propensity of these lambs toward increased adipose tissue deposition and increases their risk of later obesity.
