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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Mar 10.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Rev Neurosci. 2015 Apr 29;16(6):332–344. doi: 10.1038/nrn3818

Figure 1 |. Complex interactions between the maternal milieu, placenta and fetal compartments during gestation.

Figure 1 |

Fetal antecedents such as maternal dietary deficiencies, chronic stress or infection can promote endocrine disruptions in the maternal milieu, including increases in pro-inflammatory cytokines and stress hormones, and shifts in metabolic indices. In addition, these environmental exposures can indirectly alter placental development and function by changing local energy metabolism and lipid storage and metabolism. This can alter the transmission of key nutrients that are important for fetal growth and brain development, including growth factors and methyl donor nutrients such as folate and choline, which can affect fetal somatic and germ cell epigenetic programming. FFAs, free fatty acids; IGF, insulin-like growth factor; IGFBP, IGF-binding protein.