Effect of Maternal Cardiovascular Conditions and Risk Factors on Offspring Cardiovascular Disease

Pregnancy, embryo-fetal development and nutrition: physiology around fetal programming

“…Complications of reproductive process become more serious if mediated by vascular and cardiovascular factors [19]. Deficient or abnormal development of placenta and of its vascularization, both in the early stages of pregnancy and in the perinatal period, may also play a substantial role in the control of normal embryonic development [19,20].…”

“…Deficient or abnormal development of placenta and of its vascularization, both in the early stages of pregnancy and in the perinatal period, may also play a substantial role in the control of normal embryonic development [19,20]. In this case, many congenital defects are also related, at least in part, to the vascular damage of embryonic tissues [20].…”

A Gut Feeling About Developmental Programming Mechanisms

“…1 The involvement of TMAO (Figure) constitutes an important addition to our knowledge of developmental programming mechanisms, because TMAO levels are unlikely to be confounded by the extent of offspring atherosclerosis. However, establishing that any particular mechanism is indeed programmed in the perinatal period and that it provides a significant contribution to offspring atherogenesis is difficult.…”

“…1 Maternal hypercholesterolemia, in particular, increases the susceptibility to atherosclerosis in humans and experimental models. The translational relevance of developmental programming is obvious.…”

“…If safe interventions in hypercholesterolemic mothers before or during pregnancy can attenuate pathogenic programming, atherogenesis may be reduced throughout adult life. 1 Although the consequences of maternal hypercholesterolemia in humans are increasingly evident, 2 the mechanisms involved remain largely unknown.…”