Project description:The Jerusalem Perinatal Study (JPS) aimed to examine the developmental origins of cardiometabolic risk and explore the mechanisms underlying the associations between perinatal characteristics and the development of risk for adult chronic disease. In other words, the cohort has enabled the examination of associations between maternal and paternal characteristics with cardiometabolic risk variables in offspring at various points in the life course, as well as the effect of longitudinal changes in characteristics in both parents and offspring.
Project description:Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is the most common complication of pregnancy. Children of mothers with GDM are at an increased risk for the development of cardiometabolic disease later in life, though the mechanisms responsible for this observation are unknown. We propose that an altered cardiac transcriptome, programmed in utero, may be a contributing mechanism to cardiometabolic disease development and hypothesize that the hearts of offspring exposed to GDM will exhibit altered gene expression pathways. The purpose of this project will be to study alterations in the cardiac transcriptome of young adult rat offspring after exposure to GDM to investigate the mechanisms responsible for the developmental origins of cardiovascular disease.
Project description:Perinatal nutritional imbalances may have long-lasting consequences on health and disease, increasing risk of obesity, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease. This idea has been conceptualized in the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease Hypothesis (DOHaD). In addition, there is evidence that such early-programmed phenotypes can be transmitted to the following generation(s). It is proposed that, environmentally induced, transmission of disease risk is mediated by epigenetic mechanisms.
Project description:The Kibbutzim Family Study (KFS) aimed to investigate the environmental and genetic determinants of cardiometabolic traits (phenotype is LDL-C)
Project description:Perinatal nutritional imbalances may have long-lasting consequences on health and disease, increasing risk of obesity, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease. This idea has been conceptualized in the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease Hypothesis (DOHaD). In addition, there is evidence that such early-programmed phenotypes can be transmitted to the following generation(s). It is proposed that, environmentally induced, transmission of disease risk is mediated by epigenetic mechanisms. The aim of this study was to determine whether patterns of gene expression in the first generation offspring are also present in the following generation offspring, via the paternal lineage. Paternal transmission of patterns of gene expression strongly suggest epigenetic inheritance of disease risk. Liver tissue was obtained from the follwing experimental groups: a) control male mice, b) adult male mice previously exposed to 50% caloric restriction in utero (IUGR), c) adult male mice overfed during lactation (ON), d) adult male offspring from control mice, e) adult male offspring from IUGR mice and f) adult male offspring from ON mice.RNA was extracted and processed for further hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays (GeneChip Mouse Genome 430 2.0 (Affymetrix, Santa Clara, CA)).
Project description:The Uppsala Longitudinal Study of Adult Men is a population-based study aimed at identifying risk factors for cardiovascular disease. At the time of biopsy all subjects were ~ 70yr of age
Project description:Congenital heart disease (CHD) affects nearly 1% of births annually, and neonatal and perinatal outcomes in cases of CHD are strongly impacted by pregnancy outcomes. CHD pregnancies carry increased risk of developing pathologies of abnormal placentation including fetal growth restriction, preeclampsia, preterm birth, and stillbirth. HAND1 is a gene associated with CHD. In this study, we aimed characterize the mechanistic impacts of disrupting HAND1 on human placenta trophoblast cell lines.
Project description:Congenital heart disease (CHD) affects nearly 1% of births annually, and neonatal and perinatal outcomes in cases of CHD are strongly impacted by pregnancy outcomes. CHD pregnancies carry increased risk of developing pathologies of abnormal placentation including fetal growth restriction, preeclampsia, preterm birth, and stillbirth. HAND1 is a gene associated with CHD. In this study, we aimed characterize the mechanistic impacts of disrupting HAND1 on human vascular endothelial cell gene expression.
