title: Developmental aspects of respiratory chain from fetus to infancy.
abstract: Reviewing the recent literature on the role of mitochondria during fetal development paradoxically reveals two features: the importance of mitochondria in these early developmental phases, and the scarcity of information available for humans. Indeed, most of the available information on the role of mitochondria during development comes from studies of animal models that do not necessarily strictly apply to humans. In this paper, we attempted to collect information existing on humans, together with data from animal studies essentially presented as corroboration. This makes clear that a complex interacting network of energetic, genetic and epigenetic factors governs the impact of mitochondrial function on early development in humans. This complexity presumably also accounts for our poor understanding of the consequences of impaired mitochondrial function on prenatal development, or conversely, of the impact of development on the expression of such deficiencies.
authors.affiliation: INSERM U676, Hôpital Robert Debré, 75019 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Constantin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yanicostas
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Soussi-Yanicostas
authors.forename: Riyad
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: El-Khoury
authors.forename: Paule
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bénit
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rustin
mesh_terms: D004579:Electron Transport / Q000502:physiology*; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D047109:Fetal Development / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000502:physiology*