Sex-specific effects of in vitro fertilization on adult metabolic phenotypes and hepatic transcriptomic and proteomic pathways in mouse.

Although in vitro fertilization (IVF) is associated with adverse perinatal outcomes, an increasing concern is the long-term health implications. We augmented our IVF mouse model to longitudinally investigate cardiometabolic outcomes in offspring from optimal neonatal litter sizes. We found that IVF-conceived females had higher body weight and cholesterol levels compared to naturally-conceived females, whereas IVF-conceived males had higher levels of triglycerides and insulin, and increased body fat composition. Through transcriptomics and proteomics of adult liver, we identified sexually-dimorphic dysregulation of the sterol regulatory element binding protein (SREBP) pathways that are associated with the sex-specfic phenotypes. We also found that global loss of DNA methylation in placenta was linked to higher cholesterol levels in IVF-conceived females. Our findings indicate that IVF procedures have long-lasting sex-specific effects on metabolic health of offspring and lay the foundation to utilize the placenta as a predictor of long-term outcomes.