Table 4.

Characteristics of the four studies that met the following experimental design inclusion criteria: founder exercise intervention and epigenetic modifications measured in offspring

Study	Population	Diet	Exercise Intervention	Methylation Levels	mRNA or Protein Expression	Functional Measurements
McCullough et al. (2015)	Female Humans	Standard	Prenatal physical activity levels assessed using the Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire tool for 24 weeks	DNA methylation of differentially methylated regions (DMR) regulating four known imprinted genes with roles in fetal development (H19, MEG3, SGCE/PEG10, and PLAGL1) Association with prenatal physical activity (PA) after adjusting for race/ethnicity, gestational age at delivery, folic acid intake, maternal smoking	None measured	Association of prenatal PA with birth weight after adjusting for race/ethnicity and preterm birth
Laker et al. (2014)	Female C57BL/6 Mice	Two diet groups: high‐fat diet (HFD) versus control diet (CD) Length: 6 weeks before and throughout pregnancy	HFD group subdivided: sedentary versus access to a running wheel. Length: 6 weeks before and throughout pregnancy	Neonatal and 12‐month‐old offspring skeletal muscle Methylation of Peroxisome proliferator‐activated‐receptor gamma coactivator‐alpha (Pgc−1 alpha) at CpG site −260	Neonatal and 12‐month‐old offspring skeletal muscle mRNA levels	Glucose tolerance tests in 6, 9, and 12‐month‐old offspring
Xu et al. ( 2017)	Female Kunming Mice	Standard	Two activity groups: sedentary versus treadmill training Treadmill training occurred 5 days/week and 60 min/day Length: 4 weeks prior to superovulation and oocyte collection for in vitro fertilization (IVF)	Embryos (blastocyst stage) produced via IVF Methylation levels of CpG sites on imprinting control regions of maternal and paternalimprinted genes Global DNA methylation Histone methylation	mRNA levels of maternal or paternal imprinted genes	IVF‐derived embryos (blastocyst stage) H2O2, ATP, and Δψm measurements
Mega et al. (2018)	Male Wistar Rats	Standard	Two activity groups: sedentary versus treadmill training Treadmill training occurred for 20 min/day and 5 consecutive days/week Length: 8 weeks prior to mating	54‐day‐old male offspring Global DNA‐methylation of hippocampal tissue	54‐day‐old offspring BDNF protein quantification of hippocampal and cortex tissue	Male offspring at 1, 21, and 54 days old Body weight and growth Physical activity participation and performance Spatial memory and learning performance Adrenal gland, gonadal fat, and leg muscle weights