ESPE Abstracts

Background and aims: Studies in adults and experimental animals suggest an inverse and bidirectional relationship between cognitive abilities and obesity. Clinical studies on cognition and obesity in children are scarce and methodologically heterogeneous. Indeed, various factors related to obesity including diet, physical activity, socioeconomic status and maternal obesity can affect neuropsychological development. We aimed to study the cognitive function in s...

Introduction and objectives: Imprinted genes have been broadly related to prenatal growth regulation. PEG10 is a maternally imprinted gene involved in cellular proliferation that is mainly expressed in the placenta and in some adult tissues. In mice, mutations in this gene have been related to growth restriction of both the embryo and the placenta. Nevertheless, its role in postnatal growth has not yet been established. We aimed to study prospectively the rela...

Introduction: Inactivity in children is associated with cardiometabolic risk, while physical activity improves cardiometabolic health. We aimed to determine the association between epicardial fat (Efat), interventricular septal and left ventricular posterior wall thicknesses (IVSthickness and LVPWthickness) with physical activity/inactivity, non-sedentary/sedentary behavior, body composition, and cardio-metabolic parameters in children classified as being: ina...

Background and Objectives: Offspring born to obese mothers are at an increased risk of chronic disease including type 2 diabetes (T2D), obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular disease (CVD), non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and chronic kidney disease (CKD). This metabolic programming is produced, in part, by epigenetic changes such us DNA methylation. We postulated that obesity exposure impacts the offspring's methylome and used an epigenomic approa...

Background: Accelerated catch-up growth following intrauterine growth restriction increases the risk of developing visceral adiposity and metabolic syndrome. Animal models of growth restriction during gestation have been developed as a powerful tool to provide insight into the underlying molecular mechanisms thereof.Objective: To analyze the patterns of gene expression in the retroperitoneal adipose tissue of rats with i...

Background: The C19MC locus microRNA gene cluster is imprinted in the placenta. Imprinted genes control prenatal development and placental functions, and are epigenetically regulated. The factors that affect the DNA methylation status of C19MC regulatory region are unknown, as is the impact of this differential methylation on the offspring’s body size.Objectives: To study in humans 1) the association of placental C19MC DNA...

Introduction: Imprinted genes are critical for placental function and normal fetal growth and development. Very little is known about the impact of maternal obesity on imprinted genes and their role in postnatal growth and metabolism.Objectives: 1) To identify umbilical cord DNA methylation sites (CpG) associated with gestational weight gain (GWG); 2) to identify which of these CpGs lie within imprinting control regions ...

Background: Primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) affects 1% of women and is associated with significant medical consequences. In approximately 10% of cases, POI presents early with absent puberty or primary amenorrhoea. A genetic cause for POI can be found in up to 30% of women. Identified genes often relate to the complex biological processes occurring in fetal life which underpin normal ovary development and function in later adulthood.Objective: We aim...

Introduction: Children with Prader-Willi syndrome present with short stature and obesity. However, very little is known about the role of this imprinted control region in the general population. This study aims to analyze the methylation status of the PWS imprinting control region (ICR) in placenta and its association with postnatal growth and obesity parameters in healthy children.Methodology: The methylation percentages of the PWS-ICR ...

Introduction: The human adrenal gland originates from the adrenogonadal primordium at around 4 weeks post conception (wpc) and undergoes marked developmental changes throughout the first half of pregnancy. Several key aspects of adrenal maturation are well-established, such as the formation of a large inner fetal zone (FZ) and synthesis of dehydroepiandrosterone, but many other processes contributing to adrenal gland development and function in humans are stil...