ESPE Abstracts

Background: The human microbiota has emerged as an unexpected modulator of the immune system. The placenta, long thought to be sterile, harbors a unique microbiome and variations in their composition could be related to prevent pregnancy disorders.Objective and hypotheses: To profile the placental microbiota (microorganisms) and microbiome (collection of microbial genomes in an environment) in women with gestational diabetes (GDM) and study their relatio...

Background: The innate immune system is one of the first lines of host defense against invading pathogens. Pro-inflammatory α-defensins (mainly DEFA1–3) and anti-inflammatory bacterial/permeability-increasing protein (BPI) are antimicrobial peptides predominantly produced by neutrophils which have been recently related to obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular risk.Objective and hypotheses: The aim of our study was to test whether α-d...

Background: Sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) is the major sex steroid carrier protein. Its production is negatively regulated by insulin and monosaccharides. The concentration of SHBG increases between 16 and 27 weeks gestation and is negatively associated with pre-gestational BMI and weight gain during pregnancy. The link of SHBG with cardiovascular risk is poorly understood.Objective and hypotheses: In obese pregnant women, we aimed to study the ass...

Background and Aims: Gestational obesity can cause metabolic programming in the offspring. Epigenetic modifications of DNA have been suggested as potential mechanisms underlying this programming. FRAT-1 is a gene involved in the WNT signaling pathway, which is an important regulator of adipose tissue development. The objective of this work was to study the methylation status of FRAT-1 in placentas of women with either normal weight or gestati...

Introduction: Thyroid hormones regulate body composition and metabolism, and are among the key drivers of body growth and maturation. In children, associations of cardio-metabolic measures with the circulating prohormone thyroxine (T4) have been extensively studied, but not with active triiodothyronine (T3). In apparently healthy children, we studied whether circulating free T3 (fT3) [and its ratio with free T4 (fT3/fT4)] associates with cardio-metabolic measu...

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...