UMBILICAL CELLS SHED LIGHT ON HOW OBESITY MAY PASS FROM MOTHER TO CHILD

Researchers now have demonstrated that umbilical cells from children of obese or overweight mothers show impaired expression of key genes regulating cell energy and metabolism, compared to similar cells from babies of non-obese mothers.

Such findings may help to pave the way toward improved healthcare, both before and after birth, for children at heightened risk of obesity, says researcher from Joslin Diabetes Center.

The Joslin study also suggests that the increased risks of obesity may be driven by boosted levels of certain lipids (fats and other substances that are not soluble in water) in the maternal blood that flows through the umbilical cord.

The research began by gathering umbilical cords after birth from healthy Brazilian women without diabetes. Costa recruited 24 overweight or obese women (with a body mass index over 25 before pregnancy) and 13 women who were not overweight for the study.

The scientists collected umbilical cells from the vein that carries oxygen and other nutrients from the placenta to the embryo. These samples give a window into the nutrients and metabolites that are coming from the mom into the infant.

The Joslin team discovered that in these cells, increased obesity in the mothers correlated with lower expression of genes regulating mitochondria, which act as the cell's powerhouses and of other genes regulating the production and metabolism of lipids.

This suggests that already at birth there are detectable metabolic perturbations resulting from maternal obesity. Changes in these cells were similar to some known to occur in obesity, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

When the researchers followed up by analyzing fetal blood from the umbilical cord vein, they found that the infants of obese mothers had significantly higher levels of many lipids that are known to be metabolically deleterious, like saturated fatty acids. Fat tissues in the obese mothers may shed fatty acids that make their way into the fetal blood and create a kind of "fuel overload" for the embryo.

Thanks to: sciencedaily.com