title: Developmental programming, adiposity, and reproduction in ruminants.
abstract: Although sheep have been widely adopted as an animal model for examining the timing of nutritional interventions through pregnancy on the short- and long-term outcomes, only modest programming effects have been seen. This is due in part to the mismatch in numbers of twins and singletons between study groups as well as unequal numbers of males and females. Placental growth differs between singleton and twin pregnancies which can result in different body composition in the offspring. One tissue that is especially affected is adipose tissue which in the sheep fetus is primarily located around the kidneys and heart plus the sternal/neck region. Its main role is the rapid generation of heat due to activation of the brown adipose tissue-specific uncoupling protein 1 at birth. The fetal adipose tissue response to suboptimal maternal food intake at defined stages of development differs between the perirenal abdominal and pericardial depots, with the latter being more sensitive. Fetal adipose tissue growth may be mediated in part by changes in leptin status of the mother which are paralleled in the fetus. Then, over the first month of life plasma leptin is higher in females than males despite similar adiposity, when fat is the fastest growing tissue with the sternal/neck depot retaining uncoupling protein 1, whereas other depots do not. Future studies should take into account the respective effects of fetal number and sex to provide more detailed insights into the mechanisms by which adipose and related tissues can be programmed in utero.
authors.affiliation: Early Life Research Unit, Academic Division of Child Health, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, School of Medicine, Queen's Medical Centre, The University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK. Electronic address: michael.symonds@nottingham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Symonds
authors.affiliation: Early Life Research Unit, Academic Division of Child Health, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, School of Medicine, Queen's Medical Centre, The University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dellschaft
authors.affiliation: Early Life Research Unit, Academic Division of Child Health, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, School of Medicine, Queen's Medical Centre, The University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pope
authors.affiliation: Early Life Research Unit, Academic Division of Child Health, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, School of Medicine, Queen's Medical Centre, The University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Birtwistle
authors.affiliation: Early Life Research Unit, Academic Division of Child Health, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, School of Medicine, Queen's Medical Centre, The University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Alagal
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Keisler
authors.affiliation: Early Life Research Unit, Academic Division of Child Health, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, School of Medicine, Queen's Medical Centre, The University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Budge
mesh_terms: D050154:Adiposity / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D047109:Fetal Development; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D012098:Reproduction / Q000502:physiology*; D012756:Sheep / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Adipose tissue; Leptin; Perinatal growth; Pregnancy