Fetal Programming

Question 1

What is important in determining the long-term health and well being of the developing fetus

Answer 1

Nutrition

Question 2

______ describes the process through which exposure to environmental stimuli or insults, during critical phases of development, brings about permanent changes to the physiology or metabolism of an organism

Answer 2

Fetal programming

Question 3

We used to think development was a ______ process

Answer 3

gene-led

Question 4

What does the concept of programming suggest?

Answer 4

that environment can change the profile of genes that are expressed

Question 5

Less than optimal environments are associated with _______ at birth among human babies

Answer 5

lower weights

Question 6

Maternal nutrition affects ________

Answer 6

mature organs function and programming

Question 7

Functioning and programming of mature organs affects ________

Answer 7

physiology and metabolism (risk of chronic diseases)

Question 8

T/F: epidemiological studies suggest programming of disease indicate that impaired fetal growth is a predictor of heart disease and diabetes

Answer 8

True

Question 9

What did the study in england find having to do with birth weight and coronary heart disease?

Answer 9

infants who weighed less than 5.5 lbs at birth were twice as likely to die from coronary heart disease

Question 10

What did the study in england find having to do with birth weight and type 2 diabetes?

Answer 10

infants with low birth weight 6.5 times more likely to develop it

Question 11

What did the study in england find having to do with metabolic syndrome and low birth weight?

Answer 11

infants with low birth weight 18 times more likely to develop it

Question 12

Maternal undernutrition may program _________

Answer 12

disease processes

Question 13

What ages do most epidemiological studies focus on?

Answer 13

50-80

Question 14

What is an example of a confounding factor?

Answer 14

Mother smoking

Question 15

In general, the strongest associations are in studies with _______ number of subjects

Answer 15

smaller

Question 16

Feeding pregnant rats only 30% of their normal daily ration led to _______

Answer 16

major retardation of growth in their fetuses

Question 17

What did low birth weight rats experience when they were adults?

Answer 17

high blood pressure and profound obesity

Question 18

The possession of metabolic and physiological characteristics that ensure the most efficient and effective utilization of substrates

Answer 18

Metabolic thrift

Question 19

When would thrifty genes have had a selective advantage?

Answer 19

hunter/gatherer stage

Question 20

In modern society, what may thrifty genes lead to?

Answer 20

CVD, Diabetes, Obesity

Question 21

Suggests that the developing fetus, exposed to suboptimal nutrition, undergoes adaptations to key metabolic tissues to maximize the resources during development

Answer 21

thrifty phenotype hypothesis

Question 22

Does thrift remain through adulthood?

Answer 22

yes

Question 23

Are thrifty phenotype adaptations permanent?

Answer 23

yes

Question 24

What does predictive adaptive response suggest about thrifty phenotype?

Answer 24

it is just one aspect of a broader phenomenon

Question 25

When might the fetus undergo adaptations to its physiology that ensure immediate survival?

Answer 25

undernutrition or stress

Question 26

When will disease stem from the adaptive response?

Answer 26

if the new physiological make-up is inappropriate for the environment encountered by the individual

Question 27

Do thrifty phenotype and PAR explain the biological processes that link maternal undernutrition, fetal physiology, and diseases later in life?

Answer 27

No

Question 28

One of the simplest mechanisms

Answer 28

Tissue remodeling

Question 29

What would alter the morphology and function of the organ?

Answer 29

changes in the number of cells or type of cells within a tissue

Question 30

Glucocorticoids pass through the ______

Answer 30

placenta

Question 31

How do critical endocrine signals pass between the mother and fetus?

Answer 31

via the placenta

Question 32

What enzyme in the placenta converts active glucocorticoids into inactive form?

Answer 32

11B hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 2

Question 33

What retards growth but promotes cellular differentiation?

Answer 33

Glucocorticoids

Question 34

Lower activity or expression of 11BHSD2 is associated with what?

Answer 34

low birth weights and greater degrees of illness in premature infants

Question 35

What resulted in lower activity of placental 11BHSD2 in rats?

Answer 35

maternal protein restriction

Question 36

Nutrition factors can alter what in order to protect fetal tissues from maternal hormone signals?

Answer 36

capacity of the placenta

Question 37

Having the proline allele and a lower birthweight increased the risk of...

Answer 37

diabetes, hypertension, high blood lipids

Question 38

having the alanine allele was shown to be associated with lower _______ risk but only in individuals who have had a _____ birth weight

Answer 38

diabetes, lower

Question 39

What does the nutrient-gene interaction suggest?

Answer 39

single genotype can give rise to different phenotypes due to variations in early life experience and quality of early life nutrition

Question 40

Potent suppressor of gene expression

Answer 40

DNA methylation

Question 41

Around the time of embryo implantation, the majority of genes are _______

Answer 41

unmethylated

Question 42

What alters the unmethylated state?

Answer 42

development and differentiation

Question 43

DNA methylation patterns have been shown to be stably _____

Answer 43

inherited

Question 44

Because DNA methylation patterns have been shown to be inherited, they allow _________ to be passed on to offspring

Answer 44

nutritional programming