Metabolic Programming of Hepatic Organ Function—2nd Edition
A special issue of Metabolites (ISSN 2218-1989). This special issue belongs to the section "Endocrinology and Clinical Metabolic Research".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2025) | Viewed by 1101
Special Issue Editor
Interests: hepatology; MASLD; MASH; liver cirrhosis; hypertension
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The liver acts as the central regulator of energy homeostasis by orchestrating numerous metabolic processes, e.g., glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, and fatty acid metabolism. A disruption of liver development and maturation as a result of metabolic imbalance early in life may have long-lasting adverse metabolic consequences, rendering the liver more susceptible to chronic diseases in later life.
Accumulating clinical and experimental evidence demonstrates that detrimental early-life risk factors (e.g., maternal obesity) may cause an altered genetic, hormonal, and metabolic micro-environment for the developing fetus and thereby adversely influence fetal growth and organ development. For example, infants of obese mothers are at an increased risk for poor neonatal outcomes, including congenital abnormalities, and they are more susceptible to cardiometabolic disorders such as obesity, insulin resistance, hypertension, dyslipidemia, or metabolic-associated steatotic liver disease later in life. Experimental studies support the notion that the intrauterine and early life metabolic environment interferes with developmental processes and thereby determines organ structure, function, and susceptibility to diseases in the offspring. This condition has been coined as the concept of developmental origins of health and diseases (DOHaD), also known as the fetal programming hypothesis.
While increasing evidence suggests that there is also a metabolic programming of hepatic organ function, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood.
The second edition of this Special Issue of Metabolites, which follows the previous edition (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/metabolites/special_issues/Y4O8G4S97Y), continues aiming to feature insights into ‘early life‘ mechanisms involved in the development of hepatic diseases, since a better understanding of these mechanisms could provide new strategies for effective prevention, diagnostic, and treatment approaches.
The topics that this Special Issue will cover include, among others, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), genetic and epigenetic regulation of liver development, novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers, metabolomics, liver crosstalk with other tissues/organs such as adipose tissue or gut, immunometabolism, neuroendocrine mechanisms, hepatocyte–immune cell crosstalk, and developmental programming of glucose and the lipid metabolism.
Studies may use interventions such as dietary approaches or pharmacological treatment and -omics approaches. Both basic and clinical research are welcome.
This Special Issue will publish high-quality original research articles and review articles related to this issue, inspired by, but not limited to, the aspects mentioned above.
Dr. Philipp Kasper
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- metabolism
- liver
- early life environment
- developmental programming
- epigenetics
- metabolic syndrome
- obesity
- metabolic-dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease
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Related Special Issue
- Metabolic Programming of Hepatic Organ Function in Metabolites (4 articles)
