Seckl J R
Molecular Medicine Centre, University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, United Kingdom, USA.
Clin Perinatol. 1998 Dec;25(4):939-62, vii.
In contrast to conventional theories, a series of provocative epidemiologic findings reported over the last decade suggest that environmental factors in early life are of substantial importance to disease risk in later years. To explain these findings, the idea of early life physiologic programming or imprinting has been advanced. Such programming has been documented in a variety of systems and reflects the action of a factor during a sensitive period or window of development to exert organizational effects that persist throughout life. Programming agents might include growth factors, hormones, and nutrients. These factors may produce adaptations that permanently alter adult metabolism and responses in a direction optimizing survival under continued conditions of malnutrition, stress, or other deprivation, but such responses might be detrimental when the later environment is unexpectedly less challenging.
与传统理论不同，过去十年间一系列引人注目的流行病学研究结果表明，早年的环境因素对晚年的疾病风险至关重要。为了解释这些发现，人们提出了早期生理编程或印记的概念。这种编程已在多种系统中得到证实，反映了某个因素在发育敏感期或发育窗口期间发挥的作用，从而产生持续一生的组织效应。编程因子可能包括生长因子、激素和营养素。这些因素可能会产生适应性变化，使成年后的新陈代谢和反应发生永久性改变，朝着在持续营养不良、压力或其他匮乏状况下优化生存的方向发展，但如果后期环境的挑战性意外降低，这种反应可能会有害。
