Our Parents’ Feeding War Begins When We’re Fetuses

It is a situation that we often encounter in the family environment, where our mothers sometimes feed us excessively, and our fathers try to prevent it. Well, this feeding conflict between mother and father is based on genes, It’s exactly the opposite when we’re still fetuses. did you know? This is the case with a new study.

Scientists from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom were investigating why some babies grow poorly while in the womb, with new research on mice. While investigating this condition, which is seen in 10-15% of babies worldwide, a strange war was discovered.

The mother and father’s battle for feeding begins when the fetus is:

As a result of insufficient development of babies in the womb, there is usually a decrease in the dilation of blood vessels in the placenta. These blood vessels don’t normally go on the path of dilation between the middle and late stages of pregnancy. Scientists also researched the fetus inside the placenta. a signal it produces to stimulate the growth of blood vesselsstudied in genetically modified mice.

This signal, called IGF2, caused changes in the cells of the placenta that would allow more nutrients to pass from the mother to the fetus. But at this point maternal and paternal genes respond differently to IGF2 signaling detected. Paternal genes are present in the placenta to increase nutrient supply. by widening blood vessels was responding to the signal. Meanwhile, maternal genes to limit this expansion. was working.

In other words, paternal genes wanted to get as much resources from the mother as possible, while maternal genes took countermeasures to balance these demands. This nutritional war between genes is also extremely important for the health of the fetus. IGF2 excess due to dominance of paternal genes with a lot of growth dominance of maternal genes with insufficient growth in the associated state. With the balance established in between, healthy babies are born.