Prenatal Hypoxia Affects Foetal Cardiovascular Regulatory Mechanisms in a Sex- and Circadian-Dependent Manner: A Review

Abstract

Prenatal hypoxia during the prenatal period can interfere with the developmental trajectory and lead to developing hypertension in adulthood. Prenatal hypoxia is often associated with intrauterine growth restriction that interferes with metabolism and can lead to multilevel changes. Therefore, we analysed the effects of prenatal hypoxia predominantly not associated with intrauterine growth restriction using publications up to September 2021. We focused on: (1) The response of cardiovascular regulatory mechanisms, such as the chemoreflex, adenosine, nitric oxide, and angiotensin II on prenatal hypoxia. (2) The role of the placenta in causing and attenuating the effects of hypoxia. (3) Environmental conditions and the mother’s health contribution to the development of prenatal hypoxia. (4) The sex-dependent effects of prenatal hypoxia on cardiovascular regulatory mechanisms and the connection between hypoxia-inducible factors and circadian variability. We identified that the possible relationship between the effects of prenatal hypoxia on the cardiovascular regulatory mechanism may vary depending on circadian variability and phase of the days. In summary, even short-term prenatal hypoxia significantly affects cardiovascular regulatory mechanisms and programs hypertension in adulthood, while prenatal programming effects are not only dependent on the critical period, and sensitivity can change within circadian oscillations.