The Center for Perinatal Research, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA.
Life Sci. 2011 Sep 26;89(13-14):417-21. doi: 10.1016/j.lfs.2011.07.017. Epub 2011 Jul 28.
The "fetal origin of adult disease Hypothesis" originally described by Barker et al. identified the relationship between impaired in utero growth and adult cardiovascular disease risk and death. Since then, numerous clinical and experimental studies have confirmed that early developmental influences can lead to cardiovascular, pulmonary, metabolic, and psychological diseases during adulthood with and without alterations in birth weight. This so called "fetal programming" includes developmental disruption, immediate adaptation, or predictive adaptation and can lead to epigenetic changes affecting a specific organ or overall health. The intrauterine environment is dramatically impacted by the overall maternal health. Both premature birth or low birth weight can result from a variety of maternal conditions including undernutrition or dysnutrition, metabolic diseases, chronic maternal stresses induced by infections and inflammation, as well as hypercholesterolemia and smoking. Numerous animal studies have supported the importance of both maternal health and maternal environment on the long term outcomes of the offspring. With increasing rates of obesity and diabetes and survival of preterm infants born at early gestational ages, the need to elucidate mechanisms responsible for programming of adult cardiovascular disease is essential for the treatment of upcoming generations.
巴克尔等人最初提出的“成人疾病的胎儿起源假说”描述了宫内生长受损与成年人心血管疾病风险和死亡之间的关系。此后，大量的临床和实验研究证实，早期发育的影响可导致成年期心血管、肺部、代谢和心理疾病，而出生体重的改变则是其中的一个重要因素。这种所谓的“胎儿编程”包括发育障碍、即时适应或预测性适应，并可能导致影响特定器官或整体健康的表观遗传变化。子宫内环境受到母体整体健康状况的显著影响。早产或低出生体重可能是由多种母体状况引起的，包括营养不足或营养不良、代谢疾病、感染和炎症引起的慢性母体压力，以及高胆固醇血症和吸烟等。大量的动物研究支持了母体健康和母体环境对后代长期结局的重要性。随着肥胖和糖尿病发病率的增加以及在早期妊娠时出生的早产儿的存活率的提高，阐明导致成年人心血管疾病编程的机制对于治疗即将到来的几代人至关重要。
