Child health, developmental plasticity, and epigenetic programming.

ABSTRACT: Plasticity in developmental programming has evolved in order to provide the best chances of survival and reproductive success to the organism under changing environments. Environmental conditions that are experienced in early life can profoundly influence human biology and long-term health. Developmental origins of health and disease and life-history transitions are purported to use placental, nutritional, and endocrine cues for setting long-term biological, mental, and behavioral strategies in response to local ecological and/or social conditions. The window of developmental plasticity extends from preconception to early childhood and involves epigenetic responses to environmental changes, which exert their effects during life-history phase transitions. These epigenetic responses influenc

SUBMITTER: Hochberg Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3365792 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature