%C England
%V 4
%J Scientific Reports
%L discovery1461064
%O This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. The images in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the image credit; if the image is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder in order to reproduce the image. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.
%T Prenatal development is linked to bronchial reactivity: epidemiological and animal model evidence
%X Chronic cardiorespiratory disease is associated with low birthweight suggesting the importance of the developmental environment. Prenatal factors affecting fetal growth are believed important, but the underlying mechanisms are unknown. The influence of developmental programming on bronchial hyperreactivity is investigated in an animal model and evidence for comparable associations is sought in humans. Pregnant Wistar rats were fed either control or protein-restricted diets throughout pregnancy. Bronchoconstrictor responses were recorded from offspring bronchial segments. Morphometric analysis of paraffin-embedded lung sections was conducted. In a human mother-child cohort ultrasound measurements of fetal growth were related to bronchial hyperreactivity, measured at age six years using methacholine. Protein-restricted rats' offspring demonstrated greater bronchoconstriction than controls. Airway structure was not altered. Children with lesser abdominal circumference growth during 11-19 weeks' gestation had greater bronchial hyperreactivity than those with more rapid abdominal growth. Imbalanced maternal nutrition during pregnancy results in offspring bronchial hyperreactivity. Prenatal environmental influences might play a comparable role in humans.
%D 2014
%K Animals, Bronchi, Bronchoconstrictor Agents, Diet, Protein-Restricted, Embryo, Mammalian, Embryonic Development, Female, Humans, Lung, Models, Animal, Pregnancy, Pregnancy, Animal, Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects, Rats
%A KC Pike
%A SA Davis
%A SA Collins
%A JS Lucas
%A HM Inskip
%A SJ Wilson
%A ER Thomas
%A HA Wain
%A PH Keskiväli-Bond
%A C Cooper
%A KM Godfrey
%A C Torrens
%A G Roberts
%A JW Holloway