ESPE Abstracts

Background: Telomere length at birth is a major determinant of telomere length at later ages, up into senescence. However, the prenatal setting of telomere length is poorly understood. Individuals born large are at lower risk for later-life disorders, such as diabetes, than those born small, a feature of their longer health span being a higher lean mass that provides more muscle strength and is already present in infancy.Objective and hypotheses: To asse...

Background: Muscle is key to glucose metabolism. Myogenesis is completed in early infancy, partly under the inhibitory control of myostatin, a myokine whose actions can be influenced by follistatin. Early lowering of myostatin actions is thus a potential strategy to reduce the risk for later diabetes.Objective and hypotheses: We performed a first screening of whether such lowering is among the natural mechanisms whereby some human infants augment their l...