Early-Life Origins of Type 2 Diabetes: Fetal Programming of the Beta-Cell Mass

Table 1

Beta-cell (BC) mass characteristics in rodent models of compromised intrauterine environment.

Rodent models	BC phenotype
	fetal	neonatal/suckling	adult
IUED, mild STZD (F1)	Increased BC mass, high BC proliferation [24–27]	Increased BC mass, high BC proliferation, high islet vascularisation [24, 25]	Normal BC mass, low GSIS, low GT [24]
F2 issued from mild STZD F1	NR	NR	Low GSIS, low GT [26, 32]
IUED, severe STZD (F1)	low BC mass [27, 28]	NR	Increased BC mass, high GSIS, low GT [32–34, 39]
IUED, GI (F1)	Slightly increased BC mass, high BC proliferation [35]	NR	Low GSIS, low GT [24, 35–38]
F2 issued from GI F1	NR	NR	Low GSIS, low GT [35]
IUED, GK/Par	Low BC mass, low BC neogenesis [30, 31, 42, 86, 87]	Low BC mass, low BC neogenesis [88]	Low BC mass, low BC proliferation, low GSIS [23, 88, 89]
Severe IUCR (F1)	Increased BC mass, high BC neogenesis, high BC proliferation [46, 90–92]	NR	Low BC mass, low BC proliferation, low GSIS [46]
IUCR (F1)	Low BC mass, low BC neogenesis [44, 45, 93]	Low BC mass [47]	Low BC mass, low GSIS, low GT [44–49]
F2 issued from IUCR F1	Low BC mass, low BC neogenesis [94]	NR	Low GSIS, low GT [32]
IUPR (F1)	Low BC mass, low BC proliferation, low islet vascularization [50, 51, 93, 95]	Low BC mass [93]	Low BC mass, low GSIS, low GT [51, 53, 54, 56–62, 96–98]
F2 issued from IUPR F1	Low BC mass [26]	NR	Normal GT [99]
UPI (F1)	Normal BC mass, low BC proliferation, low islet vascularization [63–65]	Normal BC mass [65–67]	Low BC mass, low GSIS, low GT [66, 67, 100, 101]
F2 issued from UPI F1	NR	NR	Low BC mass, low BC proliferation, low GSIS, low GT [32]
IUEO (F1)	NR	Slightly reduced BC mass [80]	Normal or decreased GSIS, low GT [70–76, 81–84]
F2 issued from IUEO F1	NR	NR	Normal GT [82]

NR: not reported in the literature to the author’s knowledge; GSIS: glucose-stimulated insulin secretion; GT: glucose tolerance; STZD: diabetes obtained after streptozotocin administration to adult females several days before mating or during pregnancy; GI: continuous glucose infusion in unrestrained normal pregnant rat during the last week of pregnancy; F1: first-generation animals procreated by parent (F0) females submitted to experimentally disturbed metabolism during their pregnancy; F2: second-generation animals procreated by F1 females exposed to intrauterine disturbed metabolism; IUED: in utero exposed to maternal diabetes; IUCR: in utero exposed to maternal calorie restriction; IUPR: in utero exposed to maternal protein restriction; UPI: uteroplacental insufficiency; IUEO: in utero exposed to maternal overnutrition or obesity.