Asian Journal of Clinical Perinatology and Pediatric Biology

Volume 1 (2026)
Published : Feb 7, 2026

Epigenetic Modifications in Placental Tissue Linked to Intrauterine Growth Restriction

Nazmul MHM (1), Deepthi Shridhar Puttur (2), Vincent Leong CS (3), Srikumar Chakravarthi (4)

(1) School of Medicine, Perdana University, Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
(2) Department of Pharmacology, Father Muller Medical College, Mangalore, Karnataka, India
(3) School of Medicine, Perdana University, Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
(4) Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, SEGi University, Kota Damansara, Selangor, Malaysia
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Abstract

Fetal development is disrupted in ways that are more complex than malnutrition alone, and one such example is Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR). The current research study seeks to further understand the ways in which the placenta’s epigenetic alterations function as integrative controllers to sustain intrauterine growth and thus employs a study of the coordinated changes of DNA methylation, chromatin remodeling, and microRNA expression. Genome-wide epigenetic profiling allowed for the identification of distinct regulatory signatures that could consistently identify IUGR placentas and their normally grown counterparts, and multivariate analyses showed structured separation along the lines of growth impairment severity. The functional integration of epigenetic data showed a non-linear correlation with a defined epigenetic burden that points to the loss of placental function and the corresponding decreased birth weight percentiles (lower). This illustrates the existence of a regulatory threshold to which the adaptive responses of the placenta to shifting dynamics are constrained. Further, predictive modelling demonstrated that placental epigenetic signatures are significant in IUGR risk stratification, which confirms the predictive value of epigenetics. The findings of this research study present placental epigenetic signatures as valuable biomarkers that depict the intrauterine growth process, and more narrowly, the developmental programming events that occur within the womb.

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