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Research progress on the role and clinical significance of DNA methylation in early nutritional programming  

ZHENG Wen, LI Xiao-Nan^*

Department of Child Health Care, Children’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210008, China

Abstract

Early life nutritional environment is not only associated with the growth and development of children, but also affects the health of adults. Numerous epidemiological and animal studies suggest that early nutritional programming is an important physiological and pathological mechanism. DNA methylation is one of the important mechanisms of nutritional programming, which is catalyzed by DNA methyltransferase, a specific base of DNA covalently binds to a methyl group, to regulate gene expression. In this review, we summarize the role of DNA methylation in the “abnormal developmental planning” of key metabolic organs caused by excessive nutrition in early life, resulting in long-term obesity and metabolic disorders in the offspring, and explore the clinical significance of regulating DNA methylation levels through dietary interventions to prevent or reverse the occurrence of metabolic disorders in the early stage in a “deprogramming” manner.

Key words: early overnutrition; obesity; nutritional programming; DNA methylation; diet

Received: 　　Accepted:

Corresponding author: 李晓南　　E-mail: xnli@njmu.edu.cn

Citing This Article：

ZHENG Wen, LI Xiao-Nan. Research progress on the role and clinical significance of DNA methylation in early nutritional programming  . Acta Physiol Sin 2023; 75 (3): 403-412 (in Chinese with English abstract).