Research reveals how diabetes in pregnancy affects baby ’s heart

Researchers at the  Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA have discovered how high glucose levels — whether caused by diabetes or other factors — keep heart cells from maturing normally. Their findings help explain why babies born to women with diabetes are more likely to develop congenital heart disease.The study, which was led by Atsushi “Austin” Nakano, a UCLA associate professor of molecular, cell, and developmental biology and member of the Broad Stem Cell Research Center, was published today in the journal eLife.When developing heart cells are exposed to high levels of glucose, the researchers found, the cells generate more building blocks of DNA than usual, which leads the cells to continue reproducing rather than mature.  “High blood sugar levels are not only unhealthy for adults; they’re unhealthy for developing fetuses,” Nakano said. “Understanding the mechanism by which high blood sugar levels cause disease in the fetus may eventually lead to new therapies.”Although genetics plays a large role in the development of congenital heart disease, the leading non-genetic risk factor for the disease is a mother having diabetes during pregnancy. Babies born to women with high levels of glucose in their blood during pregnancy are two to five times more likely to develop the disorder than other babies. However, researchers have never been able to define the precise effect of glucose on the developing fetus.Nak...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news