Related Experiment Videos
Intrauterine growth and adipose tissue development
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
|September 1, 1981
Summary
Newborn body fat mass and fat cell weight vary significantly with intrauterine growth. Fat cell size, not number, primarily drives fat mass differences in infants with altered fetal development.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal physiology
- Developmental biology
- Adipose tissue biology
Background:
- Body fat mass (BFM), skinfold thickness (ST), and fat cell weight (FCW) are key indicators of infant adiposity.
- Intrauterine growth significantly impacts neonatal body composition.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the determinants of body fat mass variations in newborns with different gestational ages and intrauterine growth.
- To explore the relationship between fat cell size and fat mass accumulation in neonates.
Main Methods:
- Studied 86 newborn infants with varying maturity and intrauterine growth, including preterm, appropriate-for-gestational-age, large-for-date, and small-for-date infants.
- Analyzed body fat mass, skinfold thickness, and fat cell weight.
- Included data from parabiotic twins to assess genetic and environmental influences.
Main Results:
- Preterm infants showed lower BFM and ST but similar FCW compared to controls.
- BFM and ST increased with gestational age in appropriate-for-gestational-age infants, while FCW remained constant, suggesting fat cell replication is key.
- Large-for-date newborns had significantly higher BFM and FCW, while small-for-date newborns had lower values for all parameters.
- Fat cell weight strongly correlated with BFM and ST in full-term newborns.
- In parabiotic twins, the larger twin consistently had greater BFM, ST, and FCW.
Conclusions:
- Variations in intrauterine growth lead to significant differences in neonatal body fat mass.
- Fat cell weight, reflecting triglyceride content per adipocyte, is a major determinant of body fat mass differences in newborns.
- Fat cell replication is crucial for fat mass growth in late fetal life, while fat cell size contributes significantly to variations in adiposity related to intrauterine growth.