In Utero Programming of Later Adiposity The Role of Fetal Growth Restriction.pdfVIP

Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Pregnancy Volume 2012, Article ID 134758, 10 pages doi:10.1155/2012/134758 Review Article In Utero Programming of Later Adiposity: The Role of Fetal Growth Restriction Ousseynou Sarr,1, 2 Kaiping Yang,1 and Timothy R. H. Regnault1 1 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Children’s Health Research Institute and Lawson Research Institute, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON, Canada N6A 5C1 2 Dental Science Building, Room 2027, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON, Canada N6A 5C1 Correspondence should be addressed to Ousseynou Sarr, osarr@uwo.ca Received 6 April 2012; Accepted 17 October 2012 Academic Editor: Janna Morrison Copyright © 2012 Ousseynou Sarr et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is strongly associated with obesity in adult life. The mechanisms contributing to the onset of IUGR-associated adult obesity have been studied in animal models and humans, where changes in fetal adipose tissue development, hormone levels and epigenome have been identified as principal areas of alteration leading to later life obesity. Following an adverse in utero development, IUGR fetuses display increased lipogenic and adipogenic capacity in adipocytes, hypoleptinemia, altered glucocorticoid signalling, and chromatin remodelling, which subsequently all contribute to an increased later life obesity risk. Data suggest that many of these changes result from an enhanced activity of the adipose m