RT Journal Article
T1 Fetal programming and lactation: modulating gene expression in response to undernutrition during intrauterine life
A1 Monedero Cobeta, Ignacio
A1 Gomez Bris, Raquel
A1 Rodríguez Rodríguez, Pilar
A1 Saez, Angela
A1 Quintana Villamandos, María Begoña
A1 González Granado, José María
A1 Arribas, Silvia Magdalena
AB Background: Adverse environmental conditions during intrauterine life, known as fetal programming, significantly contribute to the development of diseases in adulthood. Fetal programming induced by factors like maternal undernutrition leads to low birth weight and increases the risk of cardiometabolic diseases.Methods: We studied a rat model of maternal undernutrition during gestation (MUN) to investigate gene expression changes in cardiac tissue using RNA-sequencing of day 0-1 litters. Moreover, we analyzed the impact of lactation at day 21, in MUN model and cross-fostering experiments, on cardiac structure and function assessed by transthoracic echocardiography, and gene expression changes though qPCR.Results: Our analysis identified specific genes with altered expression in MUN rats at birth. Two of them, Agt and Pparg, stand out for being associated with cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis. At the end of the lactation period, MUN males showed increased expression of Agt and decreased expression of Pparg, correlating with cardiac hypertrophy. Cross-fostering experiments revealed that lactation with control breastmilk mitigated these expression changes reducing cardiac hypertrophy in MUN males.Conclusions: Our findings highlight the interplay between fetal programming, gene expression, and cardiac hypertrophy suggesting that lactation period is a potential intervention window to mitigate the effects of fetal programming.Impact: Heart remodeling involves the alteration of several groups of genes and lactation period plays a key role in establishing gene expression modification caused by fetal programming. We could identify expression changes of relevant genes in cardiac tissue induced by undernutrition during fetal life. We expose the contribution of the lactation period in modulating the expression of Agt and Pparg, relevant genes associated with cardiac hypertrophy. This evidence reveal lactation as a crucial intervention window for preventing or countering fetal programming
PB Springer Nature
SN 0031-3998
SN 1530-0447
YR 2024
FD 2024-02-07
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/108454
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/108454
LA eng
NO Monedero Cobeta I, Gomez Bris R, Rodríguez-Rodríguez P, et al. Fetal programming and lactation: modulating gene expression in response to undernutrition during intrauterine life. Pediatr Res. 2024;95(7):1764-1774. doi:10.1038/s41390-024-03042-5
NO Fondos FEDER
NO European Commission
NO Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España)
NO Instituto de Salud Carlos III
NO Universidad Francisco Vitoria
NO Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
DS Docta Complutense
RD 10 abr 2025