Contribution of large animals to translational research on prenatal programming of obesity and associated diseases

Background The awareness of factors causing obesity and associated disorders has grown up in the last years from genome to a more complicated concept (developmental programming) in which prenatal and early-postnatal conditions markedly modify the phenotype and homeostasis of the individuals and determine juvenile growth, life-time fitness/obesity and disease risks. Method Experimentation in human beings is impeded by ethical issues plus inherent high variability and confounding factors (genetics, lifestyle and socioeconomic heterogeneity) and preclinical studies in adequate translational animal models are therefore decisive. Most of the studies have been performed in rodents, whilst the use of large animals is scarce. Having in mind body-size, handlingeasiness and cost-efficiency, the main large animal species for use in biomedical research are rabbits, sheep and swine. The choice of the model depends on the research objectives. Aims To outline the main features of the use of rabbits, sheep and swine and their contributions as translational models in prenatal programming of obesity and associated disorders. © 2017 Bentham Science Publishers.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	González De Bulnes, Antonio, Chavatte-Palmer, P.
Format:	artículo de revisión biblioteca
Language:	English
Published:	Bentham Science Publishers 2017
Subjects:	Animal-models, Obesity, Prenatal-programming, Rabbit, Sheep, Swine, Translational-medicine,
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12792/1898 http://hdl.handle.net/10261/292863
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