{"id":51550,"date":"2025-12-01T08:00:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T07:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fgu.cas.cz\/?p=51550"},"modified":"2025-11-30T18:48:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T17:48:12","slug":"press-release-mother-transmits-rhythmic-metabolic-signals-to-the-fetal-brain-before-its-own-clocks-start-ticking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fgu.cas.cz\/en\/2025\/12\/press-release-mother-transmits-rhythmic-metabolic-signals-to-the-fetal-brain-before-its-own-clocks-start-ticking\/","title":{"rendered":"Press release: Mother transmits rhythmic metabolic signals to the fetal brain before its own clocks start ticking"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mother communicates with the developing fetal brain through rhythmic metabolic signals even before the fetus\u2019s own biological clock is fully developed, as shown by the team of Alena Sumov\u00e1<\/a> from the Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences. A new study, published in the prestigious journal PLOS Biology<\/a>, brings breakthrough insights into the development of circadian rhythms in mammals and reveals previously unknown metabolic signals that the mother passes to the fetus through nutrition.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The research team analyzed the development of molecular circadian clocks in rats from the prenatal period through to adulthood. \u201cOur results show that, even before the fetus\u2019s own circadian clocks start operating, rhythmic metabolic signals originating from the mother\u2019s diet are already present in its brain,\u201d explains the study\u2019s lead author Alena Sumov\u00e1, head of the Laboratory of Biological Rhythms<\/a> at IPHYS. “We identified rhythms in levels of essential amino acids, carnitines and nucleosides in the fetal brain, which disappear after birth and reappear only after weaning.\u201d<\/p>\n

The study demonstrated that circadian clocks in rat fetuses develop gradually. On embryonic day 19, i.e., 2\u20133 days before birth, they are not yet fully functional. Nevertheless, metabolism in the fetal brain already shows 24\u2011hour rhythms, suggesting that these rhythms are driven by signals from the mother\u2019s body rather than by the fetus\u2019s own clocks.<\/p>\n

Aplication COMA<\/a>: Circadian Ontogenetic Metabolomics Atlas<\/strong><\/p>\n

A major contribution of the project was the use of the freely available new web application COMA, developed in 2025 at IPHYS with support from the National Institute for Research of Metabolic and Cardiovascular Diseases (CarDia). COMA is an interactive, open database that maps circadian (daily) metabolic rhythms in sixteen rat anatomical structures across different developmental stages and contains a complete dataset of metabolomic and lipidomic profiles from various tissues throughout development for the wider scientific community.<\/p>\n

\u201cCOMA represents a unique research tool that allows scientists worldwide to browse our data, generate their own graphs and discover new links between circadian rhythms and metabolism,\u201d adds study co\u2011author Tom\u00e1\u0161 \u010cajka<\/a>, who developed the application together with Alena Sumov\u00e1. The application is the result of a long\u2011term effort toward open science and ensures that the data will serve other researchers in the fields of chronobiology and metabolomics.\u200b<\/p>\n

The research was financially supported by the Czech Science Foundation and, crucially, also by the National Institute for Research of Metabolic and Cardiovascular Diseases (CarDia) within the EXCELES programme funded by the European Union through the Next Generation EU initiative. \u201cThe EXCELES programme has enabled us to use state\u2011of\u2011the\u2011art metabolomics infrastructure and to link research on the basic mechanisms of biological clocks with applied research on metabolic diseases,\u201d says Martin Sl\u00e1dek, the study\u2019s first author. \u201cLinking circadian rhythms with metabolism is crucial for understanding the development of lifestyle diseases, including obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disorders.\u201d\u200b<\/p>\n

The study\u2019s findings have far\u2011reaching implications for perinatal medicine. Disruption of the mother\u2019s circadian rhythms \u2013 for example due to shift work or an unhealthy lifestyle during pregnancy \u2013 could affect the setting of the offspring\u2019s biological clocks and increase the risk of metabolic disorders later in life. \u201cOur findings open new possibilities for preventing metabolic and cardiovascular diseases already in the prenatal period,\u201d concludes Alena Sumov\u00e1. \u201cUnderstanding how the mother synchronizes the fetal biological clocks could lead to recommendations for pregnant women regarding regular meal timing and daily routines.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reference: <\/strong>Sl\u00e1dek M., Houdek P., \u010cajka T., Sumov\u00e1 A.: Maternal food-derived signals oscillate in the fetal suprachiasmatic nucleus before its circadian clock develops. PLoS Biol 23(9): e3003404 (2025). DOI: 10.1371\/journal.pbio.3003404<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mother communicates with the developing fetal brain through rhythmic metabolic signals even before the fetus\u2019s own biological clock is fully developed, as shown by the team of Alena Sumov\u00e1 from the Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences. A new study, published in the prestigious journal PLOS Biology, brings breakthrough insights into the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":51551,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[142,113],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-for-media","category-important-success"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fgu.cas.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fgu.cas.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fgu.cas.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fgu.cas.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fgu.cas.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fgu.cas.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fgu.cas.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fgu.cas.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fgu.cas.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fgu.cas.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}