The Impact of Placental Factors on Fetal Intrauterine Growth and in Intrauterine Programming of the Metabolic Syndrome

Overview

Genetic and environmental factors are believed to play a major role in intrauterine growth and intrauterine programming. We intend to study genetic factors such as Telomere homeostasis, senescence, genomic instability and the presence of Genomic copy number variations in placental tissue from pregnancies complicated with Intrauterine growth restriction(IUGR), Gestational and pre gestational Diabetes, placentas from IVF pregnancies and from normal pregnancies. We also intend to assess these factors in cord blood and maternal blood.

Based on the previous data from our group as well as other laboratories, we postulate that there is a correlation between impaired telomere homeostasis, senescence genomic instability and intra-uterine programming in placentas and in fetuses exposed to suboptimal intrauterine conditions such as hypoxia or hyperglycemia. Improved understanding of the mechanisms that produce the genomic changes in IUGR placentas and their influence on later risks of developing the metabolic syndrome should provide basis for future research that might lead into improved outcome of IUGR fetuses.

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