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Updated: May 15, 2026
Instrumentation of Near-term Fetal Sheep for Multivariate Chronic Non-anesthetized Recordings
Published on: October 25, 2015
Fetal growth and developmental programming
Sander Galjaard1, Roland Devlieger, Frans A Van Assche
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Hospitals KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Insights
Early life environments, including in utero, permanently affect fetal development, increasing disease susceptibility. Epigenetics plays a key role in fetal programming and transgenerational metabolic changes.
Area of Science:
- Developmental biology
- Epigenetics
- Metabolic disease
Background:
- The prenatal and early neonatal environment can permanently alter fetal development.
- These early-life changes increase susceptibility to diseases later in life.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the role and mechanisms of antenatal and early postnatal events in later-life diseases.
- To focus on abnormal fetal growth patterns and their impact.
Main Methods:
- Literature review focusing on fetal programming and transgenerational effects.
- Analysis of mechanisms linking early-life environment to later disease.
Main Results:
- Fetal overgrowth linked to diabetic intrauterine environments increases obesity risk and transgenerational effects.
- Fetal growth restriction involves intrauterine malnutrition and subsequent catch-up growth challenges.
- Epigenetic alterations during embryonic development drive fetal programming and transgenerational metabolic changes.
Conclusions:
- Early-life environmental exposures, particularly those affecting fetal growth, have lasting impacts on health.
- Fetal programming, influenced by epigenetics, establishes transgenerational metabolic trajectories.
- Understanding these mechanisms is crucial for preventing later-life diseases.
Abstract:
The environment in utero and in early neonatal life may induce a permanent response in the fetus and the newborn, leading to enhanced susceptibility to later diseases. This review concentrates on the role and mechanisms of events during the antenatal and immediate postnatal period resulting in later life diseases, concentrating on abnormal growth patterns of the fetus. Fetal overgrowth is related to exposure to a diabetic intra uterine environment, increasing the vulnerability to transgenerational obesity and hence an increased sensitivity to more diabetic mothers. This effect has been supported by animal data. Fetal growth restriction is complex due to malnutrition in utero, catch up growth due to a high caloric intake and low physical activity in later life. Metabolic changes and a transgenerational effect of intra uterine malnutrition has been supported by animal data. In recent years the discovery of alterations of the genome due to different influences during embryonic life, called epigenetics, has led to the phenomenon of fetal programming resulting in changing transgenerational metabolic effects.
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