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Fetal Programming of Cardiac Function and Disease

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Abstract

Fetal programming describes long-term adaptive changes that an organism undergoes in response to an intrauterine insult. This term was coined to describe the increased incidence of adult disease, such as cardiovascular disease, seen among populations that suffered an intrauterine insult. While changes induced by such an insult may be initially beneficial, they can have deleterious long-term effects. Cardiac programming effects can be induced by maternal diet alterations, fetal exposure to increased levels of corticosteroids, chronic fetal hypoxia and anemia, and maternal use of nicotine or cocaine. These stimuli result in a variety of changes in cardiac function and gene expression, many of which persist into adulthood. A possible mediator of these changes is an alteration in the DNA methylation pattern of the cardiomyocytes. This review gives an overview of the changes that have been observed in the heart in response to various programming stimuli and potential programming mechanisms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Perinatal Biology, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Loma Linda University, School of Medicine, Loma Linda, California, 92350, USA

    Kurt Meyer BS & Lubo Zhang PhD

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  1. Kurt Meyer BS
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  2. Lubo Zhang PhD
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Correspondence to Kurt Meyer BS.

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Studies from the authors’ laboratory presented in this article are supported in part by the National Institutes of Health grants HL67745, HD31226, HL82779, and HL83966 and by Loma Linda University School of Medicine. We apologize to all authors whose work could not be cited because of space limitations.

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Meyer, K., Zhang, L. Fetal Programming of Cardiac Function and Disease. Reprod. Sci. 14, 209–216 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1177/1933719107302324

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