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Culturing and Measuring Fetal and Newborn Murine Long Bones
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Intrauterine programming of bone. Part 1: alteration of the osteogenic environment

S A Lanham1, C Roberts, C Cooper

  • 1Bone and Joint Research Group, Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO16 6YD, UK. S.A.Lanham@soton.ac.uk.

Osteoporosis International : a Journal Established As Result of Cooperation Between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA
|August 19, 2007
PubMed

Insights

Maternal protein restriction during pregnancy alters offspring bone development, leading to lasting changes in bone biochemistry and skeletal programming. This highlights the critical role of in utero nutrition on long-term bone health.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental biology
  • Nutritional science
  • Skeletal biology

Background:

  • Epidemiological studies suggest skeletal growth is programmed during intrauterine and early postnatal life.
  • This study investigates the effects of maternal protein insufficiency on skeletal development in a rat model.
  • Osteoporosis is believed to be partly programmed in utero.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the long-term effects of maternal protein restriction during pregnancy on offspring skeletal development.
  • To analyze bone biochemistry and serum markers in offspring exposed to a low protein diet in utero.
  • To understand the consequences of altered in utero diet on later life skeletal health.

Main Methods:

  • Rat dams were fed either an 18% (control) or 9% (low protein) diet during pregnancy.
  • Offspring were studied at various time points: 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 47 weeks of age.
  • Bone biochemistry and serum markers (alkaline phosphatase, IGF-1, osteocalcin, 25-OH vitamin D) were analyzed.

Main Results:

  • Offspring of protein-restricted dams showed altered alkaline phosphatase activity, peaking earlier (4 weeks) compared to controls (8-20 weeks).
  • Serum IGF-1 was lower in female offspring at 4 weeks.
  • Serum osteocalcin was higher in both male and female offspring at 4 weeks, and serum 25-OH vitamin D was lower in males at later time points.

Conclusions:

  • A low protein diet in utero significantly affected the osteogenic environment in offspring.
  • These effects on skeletal development persisted into late adulthood.
  • Early life nutritional environment plays a key role in programming skeletal development with lifelong consequences.
Abstract

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