The first trimester of pregnancy ranks high in priority when minimizing harmful exposures, given the wide-ranging types of organogenesis occurring between 4- and 12-weeks' gestation. One way to quantify potential harm to the fetus in the first trimester is to measure a corollary effect on the placenta. Placental biomarkers are widely present in maternal circulation, cord blood, and placental tissue biopsied at birth or at the time of pregnancy termination. Here we evaluate ten diverse pathways involving molecules expressed in the first trimester human placenta based on their relevance to normal fetal development and to the hypothesis of placental-fetal endocrine disruption (perturbation in development that results in abnormal endocrine function in the offspring), namely: human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), thyroid hormone regulation, peroxisome proliferator activated receptor protein gamma (PPARγ), leptin, transforming growth factor beta, epiregulin, growth differentiation factor 15, small nucleolar RNAs, serotonin, and vitamin D. Some of these are well-established as biomarkers of placental-fetal endocrine disruption, while others are not well studied and were selected based on discovery analyses of the placental transcriptome. A literature search on these biomarkers summarizes evidence of placenta-specific production and regulation of each biomarker, and their role in fetal reproductive tract, brain, and other specific domains of fetal development. In this review, we extend the theory of fetal programming to placental-fetal programming.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mce.2023.112075 | DOI Listing |
Dev Sci
March 2025
Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Comprehensive Center for Pediatrics, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Newborns are able to neurally discriminate between speech and nonspeech right after birth. To date it remains unknown whether this early speech discrimination and the underlying neural language network is associated with later language development. Preterm-born children are an interesting cohort to investigate this relationship, as previous studies have shown that preterm-born neonates exhibit alterations of speech processing and have a greater risk of later language deficits.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Public Health
January 2025
Department of Neonatology Nursing, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Background: Periviable infants are a highly vulnerable neonatal group, and their survival rates are considerably affected by patient-, caregiver-, and institution-level factors, exhibiting wide variability across different income countries and time periods. This study aims to systematically review the literature on the survival rates of periviable infants and compare rates among countries with varied income levels and across different time periods.
Methods: Comprehensive searches were conducted across MEDLINE, Embase, CENTRAL, and Web of Science.
J Biophotonics
January 2025
Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biophysics, Yuksek Ihtisas University, Ankara, Türkiye.
Zerumbone is a sesquiterpene phytochemical with cytotoxic activity against cancer. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of zerumbone on cell viability by WST-1 test, apoptosis by TUNEL, lipid peroxidation markers (malondialdehyde, MDA, and 4-hydroxynonenal, HNE) by using assay kits, and biomolecular changes by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy in A549 cells. After zerumbone (0-100 μM) incubation for 24, 48, and 72 h, the number of TUNEL-positive cells was found to be higher in zerumbone-treated cells than in controls, in consistent with cell morphology results.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSyst Rev
January 2025
Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
Background: Impaired intrauterine growth, a significant global health problem, contributes to a higher burden of infant morbidity and mortality, mainly in resource-poor settings. Maternal anemia and undernutrition, two important causes of impaired intrauterine growth, are prioritized by global nutrition targets of 2030. We synthesized the evidence on the role of preconception nutrition supplements in reducing maternal anemia and improving intrauterine growth.
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