Abstract
Background:
Cognitive impairment and attention deficit disorder have been on the rise among generations in recent times. A significant portion of the brain involved in learning and cognition is the hippocampus. Its development begins in utero till weaning. The mother's body mass index (BMI) before pregnancy indicates her health; however, little data links maternal BMI before pregnancy to fetal hippocampal health outcomes.

Aim:
The study aimed to estimate the extent to which pre-pregnancy maternal body mass index (BMI) relates to their offspring brain status, and thus to what extent to this stage of life may be an opportunity for mental and cognitive development.

Methods:
Thirty-six naive female albino rats (Rattus norvegicus) at 8 weeks of age with average weight 190-220g body weight were obtained and assigned to three experimental groups according to their body mass index into; under-, over- and normal weight. Following one week of habituation, all females were allowed to mate (3 female/ 1 male). On postnatal day1, pups were randomly adjusted to 8/dam with equal gender ratio. On 15 day postpartum, all pups were sacrificed. Hippocampi were removed and processed for histological investigations, GFAP immunohistochemically and flow cytometric assessments of apoptosis. Measurements of cognitive brain were carried out.

Results:
The present findings manifested elevation in the inflammatory and apoptotic markers in the hippocampus of underweight mothers-offspring yielding a lower cognitive ability than overweight mothers-offspring compared to those whose mothers with normal weight before conception. The male offspring were more affected than female offspring especially those born to pre-pregnancy underweight mothers.

Conclusion:
The study concluded that there may be a connection between a mother's pre-pregnancy BMI and her offspring's cognitive capacities, which calls for more study to gain a deeper knowledge and to create interventions that target the physical health of the mother prior to pregnancy in order to enhance their offspring's health and cognitive outcomes.

Key words: BMI, Cognition, Mother, Offspring, Pre-pregnancy