Role of hormones during gestation and early development: pathways involved in developmental programming

Abstract

Accumulating evidence suggests that an altered maternal environment and environmental insults during the intrauterine and perinatal periods of life affect the developing organism, leading to detrimental long-term outcomes, and often to adult pathologies through "programming effects". Hormones, together with growth factors, play key roles in the regulation of maternal-fetal and maternal-neonate interfaces, and alterations in any of them may lead to malprogramming of the developing organism. In this chapter, we will review the role of sex steroids, thyroid hormones, and insulin-like growth factors, as key factors involved in physiological processes during pregnancy and lactation, and their role in developmental programming effects during fetal and early neonatal life. In addition, we will consider epidemiological evidence and data from animal models of altered maternal hormonal environments, and extend on the role of different tissues in the establishment of maternal and fetus/infant interaction. Finally, we put forward unresolved questions and also propose future research directions.