Maternal metabolic programming of the developing central nervous system – unified pathways to metabolic and psychiatric disorders

The perinatal period presents a critical time in offspring development where environmental insults can have damaging impacts on the future health of the offspring. This can lead to sustained alterations in offspring development, metabolism, and predisposition to both metabolic and psychiatric diseases. The central nervous system is one of the most sensitive targets in response to maternal obesity and/or type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). While many of the effects of obesity on brain function in adults are known, we are only now beginning to understand the multitude of changes that occur in the brain during development upon exposure to maternal overnutrition.
Source: Biological Psychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Tags: Review Source Type: research