Developmental programming of vertebrate health and disease by hypoxia

Symposium — Tuesday, April 25, 2024 — 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM — , Room W192B
Comparative & Evolutionary Physiology Section — Chair: Gina Galli — Co-Chair:

A lack of oxygen availability (hypoxia) during development is a pervasive environmental stressor that alters the developmental trajectory of vertebrates via developmental programming.  For mammals and birds, which normally develop under relatively stable conditions, developmental hypoxia is mostly associated with the generation of pathological phenotypes that predispose the individual to disease.  However, far less is known about the long-term impact of hypoxia on ectothermic vertebrates that routinely develop in environments where oxygen fluctuates dramatically.  In contrast to mammals, recent evidence suggests developmental hypoxia may produce stress-tolerant phenotypes in ectotherms, providing a phenotypic advantage.  This symposium will provide a platform for an integrative and comparative discussion on the long-term phenotypic effects of developmental hypoxia across a range of vertebrate species.  The overall aim of the symposium is to identify common and novel phenotypic signatures associated with developmental hypoxia.  This topic is particularly timely as mounting evidence now suggests the environment may be just as, if not more, important in shaping organismal structure/function and health and disease.  The symposium spans to delegates from clinical disciplines that investigate human diseases associated with oxygen deprivation, to delegates that study the evolution of adaptations to the environment.  We therefore expect the symposia will stimulate exchange of ideas between investigators from a broad range of scientific disciplines.     

Speakers

• 
  Dino A Giussani — Department of Physiology, Development and Neurosience, University of Cambridge


• Hypoxic programming of fetal sheep coronary development
  Sonnet Jonker — School of Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University


• Analyzing the effects of hypoxia on fish cardiovascular development
  Brian Bagatto — Biology, University Akron


• Hypoxic developmental programming of cardiovascular function in avian models
  Isa Lindgre — , Oregon Health and Science University