INSTITUTE OF PHYSIOLOGY CAS - Changes of transcriptome during early postnatal development in humans: impact of premature birth on control of energy metabolism

Premature birth and its complications are the number one cause of death among children under 5 years of age and could impose long-term developmental and health problems. To improve the prognosis of premature newborns, it is necessary to understand the causes of their insufficient postnatal adaptation that depends on the changes in energy metabolism and other mechanisms. However, this research is limited by the lack of clinical materials.

The project characterizes perinatal and especially early postnatal development using a unique biobank of

various tissues of mostly extremely premature newborns (n=53) who died during first 5 months after birth; and
the livers of aborted fetuses (n=31). These samples were collected at the 1st Medical Faculty, Charles University, Prague, during 2001 – 2009 (two projects funded by the Ministry of Health).

In the heart, skeletal muscle and liver, the whole transcriptome will be characterized using RNA sequencing, mitochondrial DNA will be quantified and levels of selected proteins will be evaluated using immunohistochemistry

Main publication output: Buresova et al.2020 Int J Obes

Supported by the Ministry of health of the Czech Republic project no. NU20-07-00026 (2020-2023, PI: Jan Kopecký, MD, DSc., IPHYS)