Feb. 11, 2013 In a study to be presented on February 15 between
8 a.m. and 10 a.m. PST, at the Society for Maternal-Fetal
Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting ™, in San
Francisco, California, researchers from Tufts Medical Center
will present findings showing the effects of maternal obesity on
a fetus, specifically in the development of the brain. The
study, conducted at the Mother Infant Research Institute (MIRI)
at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, Mass., looked at the fetal
development of 16 pregnant women, eight obese and eight lean, to
see what effects maternal obesity had on fetal gene expression.
Researchers have found that fetuses of obese women had
differences in gene expression as early as the second trimester,
compared to fetuses of women who were a healthy weight. Of
particular note were patterns of gene expression suggestive of
abnormal brain development in fetuses of obese women. During
gestation, fetuses go through apoptosis, a developmental process
of programmed cell death. However,