Maternal and Placental Metabolism in Pregnancy

Pregnancy necessitates a coordinated remodeling of maternal metabolism, encompassing changes in nutrient handling, hormonal regulation, and overall energy balance to meet the demands of the developing fetus. These physiological adaptations are highly sensitive to maternal conditions established prior to conception and maintained throughout gestation. Factors such as nutritional status, physical activity, stress, and other environmental exposures collectively shape the maternal metabolic trajectory during pregnancy and may also influence postpartum physiology, ultimately shaping her long-term health and disease risk.

Within this dynamic context, the placenta serves as a central metabolic and signaling interface between the mother and fetus. It integrates maternal metabolic cues and dynamically adjusts its own physiology, while also exerting feedback effects on maternal metabolism. Through these interactions, the placenta controls fetal substrate availability, integrating nutrient sensing, processing, and transport to shape fetal growth and long-term health trajectories.

Despite substantial progress in understanding the roles of maternal and placental metabolism in pregnancy outcomes, infant metabolic health, and maternal postpartum cardiometabolic disease risk, there is limited understanding of how maternal and placental metabolic pathways respond to preconception health status and lifestyle factors during pregnancy.

The goal of this research topic is to address critical gaps in understanding how maternal and placental metabolism adapt during pregnancy, and how these processes are shaped by genetic and environmental factors. Additionally, as a central question within the developmental origins of health and disease framework, there is a need for studies elucidating how maternal and placental metabolic processes contribute to offspring health trajectories.

We welcome molecular, preclinical, clinical, and translational studies—including both interventional and observational approaches—that advance the understanding of underlying mechanisms and identify targets to improve pregnancy outcomes, optimize infant health, and reduce long-term disease risk in mothers.

Topics of particular interest include, but are not limited to:

• Impact of maternal metabolic health and environment on maternal and placental metabolism, nutrient handling, energy balance, and hormonal control across gestation
• Identification of molecular, metabolic, and other biomarkers to predict pregnancy outcomes, infant health, and maternal long-term risk.[TF1.1][FJ1.2]
• Long term effects of pregnancy metabolism on maternal physiology, including risk of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
• How maternal and placental metabolism influence fetal development, metabolic programming, and long-term cardiometabolic health in offspring