Developmental Origins of Metabolic Tissue Dysfunction: Maternal Nutrition, Epigenetic Programming and Therapeutic Reversal in Skeletal Muscle, Liver and Adipose Tissue

Non-communicable metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (MASLD), and obesity-related dyslipidaemia are among the leading causes of preventable morbidity globally. Their origins are increasingly traced not to adult lifestyle choices but to the nutritional environment established during gestation and early postnatal life. The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) framework has validated this connection across populations and animal models. What remains insufficiently resolved is the mechanistic chain connecting maternal nutritional imbalance to persistent dysfunction in the primary insulin-sensitive tissues (skeletal muscle, liver and adipose tissue) and the conditions under which early-life programming can be therapeutically reversed.This Research Topic aims to bring together three clearly defined and interconnected lines of investigation:1. Epigenetic mechanisms of maternal nutritional memory Studies examining how maternal dietary imbalance (including overnutrition, undernutrition, high-fat diet and micronutrient deficiency) encodes persistent changes in DNA methylation, histone modifications and non-coding RNA expression in offspring skeletal muscle, liver and adipose tissue. Multiomics studies integrating methylomics, transcriptomics and metabolomics are particularly encouraged.2. Mitochondrial and bioenergetic programming in offspring tissuesStudies addressing how the gestational nutritional environment shapes mitochondrial structure, dynamics and function in insulin-sensitive tissues, including oxidative phosphorylation efficiency, fatty acid oxidation capacity, reactive oxygen species production and mitochondrial biogenesis. The role of the gut microbiome as a mediator of mitochondrial programming is within scope.3. Therapeutic reversal of early-life metabolic programmingStudies evaluating whether and how nutritional, pharmacological or exercise-based interventions during lactation, adolescence or adulthood can attenuate or reverse tissue-level metabolic dysfunction established during fetal development. Bioactive compounds (including polyphenols, omega-3 fatty acids and plant-derived molecules) as well as sex-specific and transgenerational responses to reversal strategies are explicitly within scope. Topic editors: Diogo Antonio Alves De Vasconcelos, Antonio Marcus de Andrade Paes Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/82008/developmental-origins-of-metabolic-tissue-dysfunction-maternal-nutrition-epigenetic-programming-and-therapeutic-reversal-in-skeletal-muscle-liver-and-adipose-tissue