Early embryo development is the key to a healthy lifestyle, study suggests

Researchers from the University of Adelaide have discovered that the earliest days of embryo development have a measurable impact on the future health and aging of a person.

Professor Rebecca Robker, Discipline Lead of Reproduction and Development within the University of Adelaide’s School of Biomedicine and Robinson Research Institute, led a team that carried out a pre-clinical test and discovered that cellular processes in the egg at the time of fertilizing determine the telomeer-lending in the sacrificial

“Telomeren are the parts of chromosomes that influence the growth and rejuvenation of our tissues,” said Professor Robker.

“Some babies are born with shorter telomers than others, which increases their lifetime of chronic diseases associated with aging.

“As only one example, shorter telomeres are observed in children of women with obesity or metabolic syndrome. If adults, these people run an increased risk of premature mortality due to cardiovascular events, such as a heart attack or stroke, even when they are not obese.

“Until now it is not clear how the length of telomeren is determined before birth.”

Reduced telomer length can be caused by embryonic cellular damage.

“There are specific types of cellular damage during the first days of the embryo development that cause the defect in the telomeres of the embryo, making them shorter at the time of birth,” said Co-Lead Dr. Yasmyn Winstanley.

“The process responds very much to signals from the mother’s body. Our findings show that the health of mothers and environmental conditions at the time of long -term conception can have consequences and even influence the sensitivity of the offspring versus resilience against outdated diseases in later life.

“These findings emphasize that the health of women and girls should be an important point of attention for public health policy.”

Professor Robker said the research, that’s published in Nature communication It also felt that it is possible to reverse the cellular damage and to restore the telomer length.

“We offer proof-of-concept that DNA resetts can be modulated in embryos where the shortage has, with the help of currently available medicines, to influence the telomeer length at birth, which is an important marker for aging of life,” said Professor Robker.

“Our identification of specific pharmaceutical connections that can modulate telomeres during prejudices and immediately after fertilization means that there are therapeutic possibilities to optimize this biology, an important determining factor of the risk of chronic diseases.”

The researchers now work together with Vitaleon Pharma to develop these new findings in therapies for reproductive medicine and use by fertility specialists.