Journal
CIRCULATION RESEARCH
Volume 96, Issue 1, Pages 12-14Publisher
LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS
DOI: 10.1161/01.RES.0000152391.45273.A2
Keywords
fetal development; cardiovascular adaptations; liver circulation; maternal nutrition
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Fetal adaptations to impaired maternoplacental nutrient supply include altered regional blood flow. Whether such responses operate within the normal range of maternal body composition or diet is unknown, but any change in fetal liver perfusion could alter hepatic development, with long-term consequences for the risk of cardiovascular and metabolic disease. In 381 low-risk pregnancies, we found that the fetuses of slimmer mothers with lower body fat stores and those eating an unbalanced diet had greater liver blood flow and shunted less blood away from the liver through the ductus venosus at 36 weeks gestation. Consequences of such liver-sparing may underlie the increased cardiovascular risk of people whose mothers were slimmer and had lower body fat stores in pregnancy.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available