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Mechanisms and Hormones of Parturition Study Guide

Placental Programming and Developmental Outcomes

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Foundations of DOHaD and Developmental Programming

Introduction to the DOHaD Paradigm

The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease concept proposes that environmental factors during early life development can have long-lasting effects on an individual's health and disease risk in adulthood.

  • developmental plasticity
  • developmental programming
  • critical windows of plasticity
  • intrauterine environment
  • chronic disease prevalence
  • non-communicable diseases
  • malnutrition

Environmental Influences on Human Development

Nutrition and other environmental influences impact human development and the developmental origins of health and disease across the human lifespan.

  • environmental influences
  • human development
  • nutrition
  • developmental origins of health and disease
  • genetics
  • epigenetics
  • endocrine function

Introduction to DOHaD and Barker Hypothesis

The developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) explores how environmental factors during critical windows of plasticity influence lifelong health and disease profiles.

  • Barker hypothesis
  • Developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD)
  • Fetal origins of adult disease (FOAD)
  • Developmental plasticity
  • Developmental programming
  • Critical windows of vulnerability
  • Predictive Adaptive Response (PAR) Model
  • Developmental Constraints Model
  • Gene-environment interactions (GXE)
  • Reaction norm
  • Dutch Hunger Winter
  • Low birthweight
  • Metabolic and cardiovascular disease
  • Nutritional programming
  • Phenotypic plasticity

Thrifty Phenotype and Developmental Mismatch

The thrifty phenotype hypothesis explains how nutritional programming during critical windows of development causes lasting changes to body structure and function, potentially leading to developmental mismatch and metabolic disorders.

  • Thrifty phenotype hypothesis
  • Nutritional programming
  • Developmental plasticity
  • Predictive adaptive response
  • Evolutionary mismatch
  • Developmental mismatch
  • Metabolic programming
  • Type 2 diabetes
  • Insulin resistance
  • Metabolic syndrome
  • Endocrine pancreas development

Introduction to Developmental Origins of Health and Disease

Adversity in early development and postnatal challenges influence the pathogenesis of disease and noncommunicable disease risks throughout the human lifecourse.

  • Multiple Hits Hypothesis
  • Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD)
  • Critical Periods
  • Developmental Plasticity
  • Predictive Adaptive Responses
  • Epigenetic Mechanisms
  • Transgenerational Effects
  • Life Course Approach
  • Social Determinants of Health
  • Noncommunicable Disease (NCD) Risk

Nutrigenomics and Epigenetics in Nutrition

Nutrigenomics is the study of the effects of foods and food constituents on gene expression and the epigenome.

  • Nutrigenomics
  • Epigenetics
  • Gene expression
  • DNA methylation
  • Methyl-donating nutrients
  • Folic acid
  • B vitamins
  • Chronic disease
  • Nutritional genomics

DOHaD Mechanisms and Epigenetic Programming

Maternal behavior and tactile stimulus regulate the epigenome, specifically affecting DNA methylation and glucocorticoid receptor expression in the hippocampus.

  • Developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD)
  • Epigenetic programming
  • Maternal behavior
  • DNA methylation
  • Glucocorticoid receptor (GR) gene promoter
  • Hippocampus
  • Histone acetylation
  • Transcription factor (NGFI-A) binding
  • Tactile stimulus

Placental Development, Physiology, and Programming

Mechanisms and Hormones of Parturition

Parturition involves sequential changes within the myometrium, decidua, and cervix driven by hormonal mechanisms including progesterone withdrawal, estrogen increases, oxytocin, prostaglandins, and HPA axis activation.

  • Parturition
  • Labor diagnosis
  • Functional progesterone withdrawal
  • Estrogen bioavailability
  • Myometrial responsiveness
  • Corticotrophin releasing hormone (CRH)
  • Uterine stretch
  • Progesterone receptor expression
  • Oxytocin
  • Prostaglandins
  • Cervical ripening
  • Glucocorticoid production

Placenta Programming and Developmental Outcomes

Environmental exposures can alter placental structure and function, impacting nutrient and oxygen delivery to the fetus and influencing long-term health outcomes.

  • placental programming
  • developmental programming
  • placenta as a nutrient sensor
  • placenta as an oxygen sensor
  • placenta as a GC barrier
  • placenta as an inflammation mediator
  • sexual dimorphism
  • placental plasticity
  • placental size and efficiency
  • fetal growth restriction
  • placental dysfunction
  • maternal undernutrition
  • gestational diabetes mellitus
  • nutrient transporters

Placenta Programming and Hypoxia Effects

Hypoxia acts as an oxygen sensor and main cause of fetal growth restriction through morphological changes and altered nutrient transporter signalling.

  • Hypoxia
  • Fetal growth restriction
  • Placental nutrient transporter expression
  • Villous vascularization
  • mTOR signaling
  • HIF-1 transcription factor
  • Oxygen homeostasis
  • Glucocorticoids
  • Maternal stress

The Placental Glucocorticoid Barrier

The placenta regulates fetal exposure to cortisol and other glucocorticoids to manage appropriate fetal development and prevent inappropriate fetal development.

  • Glucocorticoid Barrier
  • Cortisol
  • Cortisone
  • Appropriate fetal development
  • Inappropriate fetal development
  • Fetal growth restriction
  • Pre-term birth
  • Chronic disease in later life
  • Hypotension

Placenta as an Inflammation Mediator

Placental inflammation from infectious agents or non-infectious insults affects fetal programming and developmental origins of health and disease.

  • Fetal programming
  • Placental inflammation
  • Classical inflammatory response
  • Meta-inflammation
  • Smoldering inflammation
  • TORCH infections
  • Zika virus transmission
  • Vertical transmission
  • Epigenetic modification
  • Fetal growth restriction

Sexual Dimorphism in Placental Programming

Sexual dimorphism refers to biological differences in appearance, physiology, or behavior between males and females that affect placental function, development, and response to environmental insults.

  • Sexual dimorphism
  • Placental function
  • Gene expression profiles
  • Trophoblast differentiation
  • Maternal high fat diet
  • Metabolic adaptations
  • Sex chromosomes
  • X-inactivation
  • Epimutations
  • Placental methylation patterns
  • Gonadal sex hormones

Placental Development and Circulation

  • Placental development milestones
  • Feto-placental circulation
  • Utero-placental circulation
  • Maternal-fetal exchange
  • Selective barrier functions
  • Syncytiotrophoblast
  • Cytotrophoblast
  • Intervillous spaces
  • Spiral arteries
  • Decidual plate
  • Endometrial veins

Implantation and Invasion Disorders

This content discusses implantation and invasion disorders including placenta previa and placenta accreta.

  • Placenta previa
  • Low lying placenta
  • Marginal placenta
  • Complete placenta previa
  • Placenta accreta
  • Placenta increta
  • Placenta percreta
  • Decidua basalis
  • Uterine wall
  • Hemorrhage
  • Hysterectomy
  • C-section delivery

Maternal-Fetal Exchange and Placental Physiology

This content explores maternal-fetal exchange through various transport mechanisms including diffusion, facilitated diffusion, osmosis, active transport, and vesicular transport to support placental functions and fetal nutrition.

  • Maternal-fetal exchange
  • Placental physiology
  • Simple diffusion
  • Facilitated diffusion
  • Osmosis
  • Active transport
  • Vesicular transport
  • Endocytosis
  • Exocytosis
  • Glucose transport
  • Amino acid transport
  • Fatty acid transport
  • Macronutrients
  • Syncytiotrophoblast

Placenta Development and Endocrine Functions

The placenta regulates maternal hormones, promotes fetal growth, and ensures respiratory function through various endocrine secretions.

  • Progesterone
  • Estrogen
  • Estradiol
  • Estriol
  • Placental Lactogen
  • Placental Growth Hormone
  • Leptin
  • Corpus luteum
  • Myometrial contractions
  • Mammary gland development
  • Maternal insulin resistance
  • Fetal growth
  • Respiratory function of placenta

Placental Functions and the Placental Barrier

The placenta serves as a barrier protecting the fetus from infection, xenobiotics, and elevated cortisol while facilitating fetal circulation, immunity, and excretory functions.

  • fetal circulation
  • ductus venosus
  • ductus arteriosus
  • placental barrier
  • teratogens
  • congenital infection
  • glucocorticoids
  • xenobiotics
  • ABC transporters
  • cytochrome P450 system
  • maternal antibodies
  • FcRn receptor
  • excretory functions

Pregnancy, Obstetrical Complications, and Offspring Health

Pregnancy and Obstetrical Complications

This content covers measuring health in pregnancy, fetal health metrics, neonatal health metrics, and various obstetrical complications including pre-term birth, fetal growth restriction, and preeclampsia.

  • Fetal health metrics
  • Neonatal health metrics
  • APGAR evaluation
  • Pre-term birth
  • Fetal growth restriction
  • IUGR/FGR
  • Preeclampsia
  • HELLP Syndrome
  • Gestational diabetes
  • Placental function
  • Developmental programming

Gestational Diabetes and Obstetrical Complications

This content examines gestational diabetes, its pathophysiology involving insulin resistance and hyperglycemia, and its associated maternal and neonatal complications.

  • Gestational diabetes
  • Hyperglycemia
  • Insulin resistance
  • Macrosomia
  • Placental hormones
  • Leptin
  • Adiponectin
  • Pre-eclampsia
  • Eclampsia
  • Maternal hemorrhage
  • Type 2 diabetes mellitus
  • Cardiovascular disease
  • Environmental risk factors
  • Socioeconomic risk factors

Mechanisms of Epigenetics, Genetic Damage, and DNA Editing

Epigenetics and Human Disease

Epigenetic modifications and dysregulation contribute to the development of various human pathologies, including diabetes, mental health conditions, neurodegenerative diseases, autoimmunity, cancer, and aging.

  • DNA methylation
  • Histone modification
  • Non-coding RNAs
  • Fragile X syndrome
  • Schizophrenia
  • Autoimmune diseases
  • Cancer oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes
  • Epigenetic drift
  • Sirtuins
  • Epigenetic drug discovery
  • DNA methyltransferase inhibitors
  • CRISPR/Cas approach

Epigenetics in Development, Health, and Aging

Epigenetic mechanisms including DNA methylation, histone modification, and non-coding RNAs regulate gene expression and chromatin alterations throughout the human life cycle, influencing developmental programming, disease, and cellular aging.

  • DNA methylation
  • Histone modification
  • Non-coding RNAs
  • Genetic imprinting
  • X-chromosome inactivation
  • Pluripotent stem cells
  • Somatic cell differentiation
  • Paternal and maternal genome demethylation
  • Epigenetic modifications and disease
  • Environmental exposures and nutrition
  • Histone modifications
  • DNA methyltransferases
  • Histone acetyltransferases
  • CpG islands
  • One-carbon metabolism
  • S-adenosylmethionine
  • Long non-coding RNA
  • circRNAs
  • Epigenetic reprogramming
  • Gametogenesis

Mechanisms of Epigenetic Modifications and Chromatin

Epigenetic modifications such as histone modification and DNA methylation influence gene expression by altering the structure of chromatin.

  • Epigenetic modifications
  • Histone modification
  • DNA methylation
  • Chromatin structure
  • Gene expression regulation
  • Nucleosomes
  • Histone acetylation
  • Histone code hypothesis
  • Chromatin remodeling

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