Placental expression of myostatin and follistatin-like-3 protein in a model of developmental programming

Abstract

Maternal undernutrition during gestation is known to be detrimental to fetal development, leading to a propensity for metabolic disorders later in the adult lives of the offspring. Identifying possible mediators and physiological processes involved in modulating nutrient transport within the placenta is essential to prevent and/or develop treatments for the effects of aberrant nutrition, nutrient transfer, and detrimental changes to fetal development. A potential role for myostatin as a mediator of nutrient uptake and transport from the mother to the fetus was shown through the recent finding that myostatin acts within the human placenta to modulate glucose uptake and therefore homeostasis. ..