Maternal Nutrition and Fetal Development
TLDR
There is growing evidence that maternal nutritional status can alter the epigenetic state (stable alterations of gene expression through DNA methylation and histone modifications) of the fetal genome, which may provide a molecular mechanism for the impact of maternal nutrition on both fetal programming and genomic imprinting.Abstract:
Nutrition is the major intrauterine environmental factor that alters expression of the fetal genome and may have lifelong consequences. This phenomenon, termed "fetal programming," has led to the recent theory of "fetal origins of adult disease." Namely, alterations in fetal nutrition and endocrine status may result in developmental adaptations that permanently change the structure, physiology, and metabolism of the offspring, thereby predisposing individuals to metabolic, endocrine, and cardiovascular diseases in adult life. Animal studies show that both maternal undernutrition and overnutrition reduce placental-fetal blood flows and stunt fetal growth. Impaired placental syntheses of nitric oxide (a major vasodilator and angiogenesis factor) and polyamines (key regulators of DNA and protein synthesis) may provide a unified explanation for intrauterine growth retardation in response to the 2 extremes of nutritional problems with the same pregnancy outcome. There is growing evidence that maternal nutritional status can alter the epigenetic state (stable alterations of gene expression through DNA methylation and histone modifications) of the fetal genome. This may provide a molecular mechanism for the impact of maternal nutrition on both fetal programming and genomic imprinting. Promoting optimal nutrition will not only ensure optimal fetal development, but will also reduce the risk of chronic diseases in adults.read more
Citations
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Amino acids: metabolism, functions, and nutrition
TL;DR: Dietary supplementation with one or a mixture of these functional AA, which include arginine, cysteine, glutamine, leucine, proline, and tryptophan, may be beneficial for ameliorating health problems at various stages of the life cycle and optimizing efficiency of metabolic transformations to enhance muscle growth, milk production, egg and meat quality and athletic performance.
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Amino acids and immune function
TL;DR: Increasing evidence shows that dietary supplementation of specific amino acids to animals and humans with malnutrition and infectious disease enhances the immune status, thereby reducing morbidity and mortality.
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Dietary Protein Restriction of Pregnant Rats Induces and Folic Acid Supplementation Prevents Epigenetic Modification of Hepatic Gene Expression in the Offspring
TL;DR: Results show that unbalanced prenatal nutrition induces persistent, gene-specific epigenetic changes that alter mRNA expression that provides a strong candidate mechanism for fetal programming.
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Arginine metabolism and nutrition in growth, health and disease
Guoyao Wu,Guoyao Wu,Fuller W. Bazer,Teresa A. Davis,Sung Woo Kim,Peng Li,J. Marc Rhoads,M. Carey Satterfield,Stephen B. Smith,Thomas E. Spencer,Yulong Yin +10 more
TL;DR: The results of both experimental and clinical studies indicate that Arg is a nutritionally essential amino acid (AA) for spermatogenesis, embryonic survival, fetal and neonatal growth, as well as maintenance of vascular tone and hemodynamics and novel and effective therapies for obesity, diabetes, and the metabolic syndrome.
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Board-invited review: intrauterine growth retardation: implications for the animal sciences.
TL;DR: There is growing evidence that maternal nutritional status can alter the epigenetic state (stable alterations of gene expression through DNA methylation and histone modifications) of the fetal genome, which may provide a molecular mechanism for the role of maternal nutrition on fetal programming and genomic imprinting.
References
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Epigenetic regulation of gene expression: how the genome integrates intrinsic and environmental signals
Rudolf Jaenisch,Adrian Bird +1 more
TL;DR: Advances in the understanding of the mechanism and role of DNA methylation in biological processes are reviewed, showing that epigenetic mechanisms seem to allow an organism to respond to the environment through changes in gene expression.
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Obesity and the Environment: Where Do We Go from Here?
TL;DR: It is estimated that affecting energy balance by 100 kilocalories per day (by a combination of reductions in energy intake and increases in physical activity) could prevent weight gain in most of the population.
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Reduced fetal growth rate and increased risk of death from ischaemic heart disease: cohort study of 15 000 Swedish men and women born 1915-29
David A. Leon,Hans Lithell,Denny Vågerö,Ilona Koupilová,Rawya Mohsen,Lars Berglund,Ulla-Britt Lithell,Paul M. McKeigue +7 more
TL;DR: This study provides by far the most persuasive evidence of a real association between size at birth and mortality from ischaemic heart disease in men, which cannot be explained by methodological artefact or socioeconomic confounding and strongly suggests that it is variation in fetal growth rate rather thansize at birth that is aetiologically important.
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Early nutrition, epigenetic changes at transposons and imprinted genes, and enhanced susceptibility to adult chronic diseases
TL;DR: This review focuses on early nutritional influences on cytosine methylation and proposes that certain genomic regions, including genomically imprinted domains and specific transposon insertion sites, are especially labile to such influences.
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Differential Effects of Culture on Imprinted H19 Expression in the Preimplantation Mouse Embryo
Adam S. Doherty,Adam S. Doherty,Mellissa R.W. Mann,Kimberly D. Tremblay,Marisa S. Bartolomei,Richard M. Schultz +5 more
TL;DR: The finding that culture conditions can dramatically, but selectively, affect the expression of imprinted genes provides a model system for further study of the linkage between DNA methylation and gene expression.