The Development of the Embryo is the Key to a Healthy Lifestyle

Researchers at the University of Adelaide have found that the earliest days of embryonic development have a measurable impact on a person’s future health and aging. Professor Rebecca Robker, Head of the Division of Reproduction and Development at the University of Adelaide’s School of Biomedicine and Robinson Research Institute, led a team that conducted a preclinical study and found that cellular processes in the egg at the time of fertilization determine telomere length in offspring.

The Mother´s Health and Environmental Conditions at the Time of Conception Can Have Long-Term Consequences for the Offspring

“Telomeres are the parts of chromosomes that affect the growth and rejuvenation of our tissues,” said Professor Robker. Some babies are born with shorter telomeres than others, increasing their lifetime risk of chronic diseases associated with aging. One example of this is shorter telomeres in the children of women with obesity or metabolic syndrome. As adults, these individuals have an increased risk of premature death from cardiovascular events such as heart attack or stroke, even if they are not obese themselves.

Until now, it was not clear how telomere length is determined before birth. A shortened telomere length can be caused by damage to the embryonic cells. “There are certain types of cell damage in the first days of embryonic development that cause the defect in the telomeres of the embryo, which makes them shorter at the time of birth,” said Dr. Yasmyn Winstanley, co-leader of the study.

DNA Reprogramming of the Embryo

The process is highly responsive to signals from the mother’s body. The researchers’ findings show that the health of the mother and environmental conditions at the time of conception can have long-term consequences and even influence the susceptibility or resistance of offspring to age-related diseases later in life. These results underscore that the health of women and girls should be a public health priority. Professor Robker said the study, published in Nature Communications, also showed that it is possible to reverse the cellular damage and restore telomere length. The researchers demonstrated that DNA reprogramming in embryos where it is deficient can be modulated using currently available drugs to affect telomere length at birth, which is an important marker of aging over a lifetime.

Their identification of specific pharmaceutical compounds that can modulate telomeres during the preconception period and immediately after fertilization means that there are therapeutic options to optimize this biology, which is a crucial factor in the risk of chronic diseases. The researchers are now working with Vitaleon Pharma to translate these new findings into therapies for reproductive medicine for use by fertility specialists.