Developmental origins of adult diseases

Abstract

The occurrence and mechanisms of developmental adult diseases have gradually attracted attention in recent years. Exposure of gametes and embryos to adverse environments, especially during plastic development, can alter the expression of certain tissue-specific genes, leading to increased susceptibility to certain diseases in adulthood, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, neuropsychiatric, and reproductive system diseases, etc. The occurrence of chronic disease in adulthood is partly due to genetic factors, and the remaining risk is partly due to environmental-dependent epigenetic information alteration, including DNA methylation, histone modifications, and noncoding RNAs. Changes in this epigenetic information potentially damage our health, which has also been supported by numerous epidemiological and animal studies in recent years. Environmental factors functionally affect embryo development through epimutation, transmitting diseases to offspring and even later generations. This review mainly elaborated on the concept of developmental origins of adult diseases, and revealed the epigenetic mechanisms underlying these events, discussed the theoretical basis for the prevention and treatment of related diseases.

Keywords: embryos development; epigenetic; gametes; non-communicable diseases.

Figure 1:

Overview of various biological system diseases caused by adverse environmental exposure of parents.Disorders of different systems are listed from left to right (indicated by the red lines): cardiovascular system (Hypertension, Abnormal vascular reactivity and Pulmonary arterial hypertension); metabolic system (Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, Diabetes, Metabolic syndrome, Fat accumulation and Overweight/obesity); central nervous system (Major Depressive Disorder, Autism, Schizophrenia and Neurodevelopmental disorders); reproductive system (Polycystic ovary syndrome, Subfertility, Ovarian dysfunction, Delayed puberty and Testicular hypoplasia). MDD, Major Depressive Disorder; PCOS, Polycystic ovary syndrome; NAFLD, Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Figure 2:

Links of epigenetic modifications to developmental diseases. The timeline represents three distinct time periods of disease exposure: gametogenesis, in utero periods, and post-natal periods; The black arrows represent the mechanisms of four different epigenetic modifications during disease development, which play different roles at the DNA (DNA methylation), histone (acetylation and methylation), and RNA (non-coding RNAs) levels, respectively.