Testing if sulforaphane is protective in obesity and gestational diabetes

Activation of Nrf2 antioxidant defences by sulforaphane confers vascular protection in offspring exposed to a maternal obesogenic diet

Dr Sarah Chapple and her colleagues at King’s College London are working out if a molecule called sulforaphane could protect mothers and babies from the harmful effects of maternal obesity and diabetes. Obesity increases the risk of gestational diabetes – high blood sugar that develops during pregnancy – which puts both mother and baby at risk of developing heart and circulatory disease later in life. Scientists have discovered that, in children whose mothers had gestational diabetes during pregnancy, the endothelial cells that line blood vessels and control blood pressure are less able to protect themselves against damaging molecules. These cells fail to activate protective antioxidant defences controlled by a molecule called Nrf2, and the resulting damage primes them towards blood vessel disease. Dr Chapple has developed a mouse that mimics obese pregnancy and discovered that it has impaired Nrf2 defences similar to people with gestational diabetes. When these mice were fed sulforaphane, a molecule found in broccoli, they had higher protective Nrf2 antioxidant defences. In this project, Dr Chapple will work out whether feeding these mice sulforaphane during pregnancy protects their offspring from developing heart and circulatory disease problems later in life. By testing sulforaphane in mice, this research could pave the way for clinical trials testing if sulforaphane could treat gestational diabetes and obesity in pregnant women.