Effects of GDM involves alterations in gene specific DNA methylation

Gestational diabetes mellitus(GDM) will bring health issues for offspring. The offspring of diabetic mothers often reveal high birth weight and are prone to have obesity, hypertension and dyslipidemia. It was implied that the phenotype of offspring might be influenced by intrauterine environment and planned in utero already in addition to the genetic influences.‘Programming’ refers to the process whereby a stimulus at a critical window of development has long-term effects. A large body of studies investigated the adverse intrauterine environment was correlated with poor fetal growth and increased risk of Type 2 diabetes in the adulthood. Epigenetic mechanism has been proposed to involve in the link between environmental and nutritional factors and gene expression regulation. DNA methylation is one of the major epigenetic modifications. We hypothesized that DNA methylation changes could participate in the gene expression related to glucose intolerance in the offspring. Furthermore, DNA methylation might also determine the transgenerational disease transmission.