Welcome on our web page. The Join Research Unit "Physiology of the Nutritional Adaptation" was created in 2006 to study perinatal denutrition.

The Joint Research Unit Physiopathology of Nutritional Adaptations (INRAE ​​& University of Nantes) develops research in perinatal nutrition.

Presentation of the unit

The first 1000 days of life, including pregnancy, constitute a critical period in the development of the fetus, newborn and child but also contribute to their future health. The objective of PhAN is to determine how early events (fetal and neonatal period) such as malnutrition, exposure to xenobiotics (drugs, pesticides), the metabolic status of parents, increase the risk of cardio-metabolic diseases (diabetes, obesity, hypertension) and psychiatric diseases later in life. This programming involves a memory of these perinatal events that would be carried by epigenetic marks but also by structural defects of key organs in the regulation of metabolism. The UMR PhAN studies the programming of the microbiota-gut-brain axis and its role in the risk of adult diseases. The unit explores more particularly (but not exclusively), the effects of perinatal malnutrition by a translational approach (animal models, monitoring of cohorts of children). The importance of placental flows and breast milk in these processes are studied.