Acquired hypermethylation of the hypothalamic insulin receptor promoter in neonatally overfed rats

Neonatal overnutrition leads to an increased risk of obesity and diabetes later in life (1). Rats overnourished neonatally by rearing in small litters develop permanent obesity disposition, which is accompanied by diabetogenic and cardiovascular alterations in terms of the metabolic syndrome (2). These animals show a neonatally “programmed“ hypothalamic insulin resistance with permanent hyperphagia (2, 3). Epigenomic mechanisms, like DNA methylation, might be responsible for processes of perinatal programming. We therefore investigated whether neonatal overnutrition leads to alterations of the DNA methylation pa…