Guanajuato, Gto., May 27, 2016.- With the purpose to identify the relation between nourishment and metabolism of the mother with growth of the baby in uterus, at the University of Guanajuato there is a research called "Expresión y Activación de AMPK en Placenta de Recién Nacidos a Término, y su relación con el estado Nutricional y Metabólico de la Madre" (Expression and activation of AMPK in new born Placenta in Terminus and its relationship with the Nutritional and Metabolic state of the Mother).
This project is done by Julia del Socorro Mora Peña, graduate from the Master in Medical Sciences of the University of Guanajuato, who informed that UG has previous studies, in which they identified that there are clinically healthy mothers who can have underweight babies or macrosomic –with a weight greater than 4,500 grams--.
She added that babies with weight problems have greater possibilities of generating chronical degenerative diseases in the future, hence, the importance of this type of research.
Julia del Socorro Mora's intention is to observe if nourishment from the mother is playing an important role in the development of the fetus, so she is making research in placentas where normal weight babies were gestated and make diverse procedures to identify and determine the expression of AMPK, a protein present in most of the organs in the human body, such as the liver, muscle, adipose cells, among others.
AMPK is a protein considered as a sensor of cellular energy, it means, when a cell has low energy levels it activates the AMPK protein, making fast changes in the metabolic routes which will generate energy again for diverse activities that every organ requires.
The researcher explained that at the same time of the study of the placenta, they have "24-hours reminders" for the mothers, which are questionnaires to know the type of nourishment the mother had through the pregnancy.
With this project they could determine if the baby's weight is related with the mother's nourishment for the production of AMPK; if so, they could create policies to improve the mother's nourishment, make a prenatal control, or avoid actions that have a negative impact in the baby during gestation.
Finally, Socorro Mora Peña assured that the field of research is wide and that UG is developing diverse research in this and other topics, so she invites anyone who is interested to participate in the postgraduates, that give experience, knowledge and applications with great personal and social benefits.
