Epigenetic Mechanism of Fetal-Originated Disease

Environmental factors that interfere with early life development have become the main cause of fetal developmental toxicity and susceptibility to multiple diseases in adulthood through changes in intrauterine programming, mainly related to abnormal epigenetic modifications. Epigenetics not only partially explains how the environment during pregnancy affects fetal physiological development but also elucidates the mechanism of fetal developmental toxicity related to the prenatal adverse environment, susceptibility to multiple diseases in adulthood, and even genetic effects. This chapter summarizes the recent research progress of worldwide scholars in epigenetics in intrauterine programming of fetal diseases, analyzes cases of multi-generation inheritance through epigenetic mechanisms, and clarifies the mechanism of susceptibility to fetal diseases and multi-generation genetic effects from the perspective of abnormal epigenetic modification. This information is crucial in clarifying the long-term harm caused by environmental factors and provides new ideas for exploring early prevention and treatment targets of fetal-originated disease.