Leptin reversal of the metabolic phenotype: evidence for the role of developmental plasticity in the development of the metabolic syndrome

Gluckman, Peter D., Beedle, Alan S., Hanson, Mark A. and Vickers, Mark H. (2007) Leptin reversal of the metabolic phenotype: evidence for the role of developmental plasticity in the development of the metabolic syndrome. Hormone Research, 67 (Supplement 1), 115-120. (doi:10.1159/000097566).

Abstract

Events in early life are associated with changes in the risk of disease in later life. There is increasing evidence that these associations are mediated by permanent transcriptional changes in metabolic pathways, in some cases linked to epigenetic alterations. We have proposed that this phenomenon of 'developmental induction' is not a manifestation of pathophysiological processes but rather represents the consequence of developmental decisions made during fetal and early postnatal life to maximize subsequent fitness. However, this fitness advantage is lost if the early and later environments are mismatched. Rats undernourished in utero by maternal underfeeding develop features of the metabolic syndrome, especially if fed on a high-fat diet, but transient neonatal treatment with leptin reverses induction of this adverse metabolic phenotype. This observation demonstrates that developmental programming is reversible and provides strong support for the match-mismatch or predictive model for the origins of developmental programming.

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Contributors

Author: Mark A. Hanson

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