Adverse Intrauterine Environment and Cardiac miRNA Expression
1
Early Origins of Adult Health Research Group; School of Pharmacy & Medical Sciences, Sansom Institute for Health Research, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia
2
CSIRO Agriculture, 306 Carmody Rd, St. Lucia, QLD 4067, Australia
3
Mechanisms in Cell Biology and Disease Research Group School of Pharmacy & Medical Sciences, Sansom Institute for Health Research, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2017, 18(12), 2628; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms18122628
Received: 2 October 2017 / Revised: 10 November 2017 / Accepted: 28 November 2017 / Published: 6 December 2017
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adaptation to Chronic Hypoxia: The Last Word Has Not yet Been Said)
Placental insufficiency, high altitude pregnancies, maternal obesity/diabetes, maternal undernutrition and stress can result in a poor setting for growth of the developing fetus. These adverse intrauterine environments result in physiological changes to the developing heart that impact how the heart will function in postnatal life. The intrauterine environment plays a key role in the complex interplay between genes and the epigenetic mechanisms that regulate their expression. In this review we describe how an adverse intrauterine environment can influence the expression of miRNAs (a sub-set of non-coding RNAs) and how these changes may impact heart development. Potential consequences of altered miRNA expression in the fetal heart include; Hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) activation, dysregulation of angiogenesis, mitochondrial abnormalities and altered glucose and fatty acid transport/metabolism. It is important to understand how miRNAs are altered in these adverse environments to identify key pathways that can be targeted using miRNA mimics or inhibitors to condition an improved developmental response.
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Keywords:
miRNA; epigenetics; heart disease; fetal development
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MDPI and ACS Style
Lock, M.C.; Botting, K.J.; Tellam, R.L.; Brooks, D.; Morrison, J.L. Adverse Intrauterine Environment and Cardiac miRNA Expression. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2017, 18, 2628. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms18122628
AMA Style
Lock MC, Botting KJ, Tellam RL, Brooks D, Morrison JL. Adverse Intrauterine Environment and Cardiac miRNA Expression. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2017; 18(12):2628. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms18122628
Chicago/Turabian StyleLock, Mitchell C.; Botting, Kimberley J.; Tellam, Ross L.; Brooks, Doug; Morrison, Janna L. 2017. "Adverse Intrauterine Environment and Cardiac miRNA Expression" Int. J. Mol. Sci. 18, no. 12: 2628. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms18122628
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